Downloaded from YTS.MX
[ethereal music]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[whoosh]
[dramatic music]
[rope creaking]
[fanfare]
[ethereal saxophone]
[forest sounds]
[birds cawing]
[rope creaking]
[distant thunder rumbles]
[creaking continues]
[forest sounds fade out]
[mysterious score]
[footsteps echo]
[dramatic thud, rumble]
[discordant piano music]
[singing in German]
[film projector whirring]
[singing in German continues]
- I'll be asked to make this personal.
So I shall.
You are always looking at her.
You look at her too much.
Something terrible may happen.
[soft dramatic score]
[siren in distance]
- Hi, I'm Clea.
I work in the props department here at the opera company.
I'm going to be showing you how I make the head
of John the Baptist,
uh, who, for those of you who might not know the story,
he is the biblical prophet that gets beheaded
by a woman called Salome.
- Woman 1: We welcome back
the wonderful Ambur Dione.
[Woman 1 laughs]
[female patron hoots]
- So great to have you back home, Ambur.
And welcome to our company
for his first appearance with us,
Johan Mueller.
We're very excited to have
these two amazing singers with us
and both are fresh from a very,
shall we say, [clears throat]
controversial production of Salome in Stuttgart.
[laughter]
[murmuring]
Sometime before my husband passed away last year
he made a very specific request.
Charles wanted one of his former students
to direct this remount of Salome.
I know that Charles worked very closely with Jeanine
on the original production and so
I'll let Jeanine let us know
what she plans to do in the weeks ahead.
Jeanine, would you like to come forward
and say a few words?
[applause]
- Working on this production so many years ago
changed my life.
It was a huge gift.
Just like being invited to stage this remount is a...
another...
huge gift.
Charles meant the world to me.
Charles meant a lot to many people.
[suspenseful score]
This morning, I-I...
I took a moment
to find his-his favorite spot in the theatre,
which is this rehearsal bridge
that connects the stage to the audience
just above the orchestra. It's this--
It's between these two spaces.
And he lo-- he loved being there.
He... he loved being in the heart of the action.
And, now, we are here to...
to honor his heart
and his spirit
in the best way that we can.
So, I will leave you with
with the costume designs and some images
from the original show and the maquette.
The changes that I will be making
for this production will be small but meaningful.
And if anybody has any questions
I'd be happy to answer.
Thank you.
[applause]
- That was a crazy production - Yeah. [chuckles]
- Do you remember all those long talks
that we had about the role?
- Ye-yeah, I remember those talks.
You had a huge impact on me.
- Really?
[gentle violin playing] [soft conversations]
- And after that, I-I-I went to study
with this amazing teacher in London,
but they were really expensive so I ran outta money really fast
- and I came back. - And you kept working.
- I've done a lot of understudy roles.
And I've done some small things.
- I'm here now. - Covering John the Baptist.
- And I'm covering Salome.
- Hi. - Rachel.
- Rachel. Jeanine. It's so nice to meet you.
- You too. - My two understudies.
This'll be fun.
- So, here's the basic plot of the opera:
Salome wants John the Baptist to pay attention to her.
She's crazy about him, but he refuses.
He won't even look at her because he thinks
that Salome's mother is a whore.
So, then, Salome's stepfather, King Herod,
he asks her to do this sexy dance for him
and he offers Salome
anything that she wants in return.
So, Salome asks for
the head of John the Baptist,
which is what I'm working on here.
She demands that her stepfather
chop off John's head and offer it up to her
so that she may finally kiss his lips.
I guess you can see it's a pretty weird love story.
[dramatic piano music]
Who is this woman who is looking at me
I will not have her look at me
Wherefore doth she look at me with her golden eyes
under her golden eyelids
I know not who she is
Bid her be gone
It is not to her that I would speak
I am Salome daughter of Herodias
Princess of Judea
Back daughter of Babylon!
Come not near the chosen...
- Johan! Johan, Johan.
It's important that you never look at Salome.
From the moment you take your blindfold off your eyes
you never turn to look at her.
- That feels strange.
- Well, you're demanding that-that she repent
and, in order to get her to do that,
she needs to feel frightened of you.
You need to let her understand that you know
the terrible things that she's done.
The cries of her sinning are heard by God.
You say that, right?
You need her to beg for forgiveness
and you're not prepared to look at her until she does.
- But isn't it her mother's cries and sinning
I'm talking about?
I think she's a whore.
- They're one and the same as far as you're concerned.
Like mother, like daughter.
[dramatic score]
Okay, let's continue.
[rope creaking] [piano playing]
How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight
Look at the moon
How strange the moon seems
She is like a woman rising from a tomb
[older woman laughing]
- You have to blow them out, Granny.
- Where's Daddy?
- Daddy, come. Granny wants to blow out her candles.
[granny laughs]
- Woman 2: Where'd you find those candles, Lizzie?
- Daddy brought it.
- They're a little big, aren't they?
We were gonna use sparklers, remember?
Let's take this back and put them on.
- Shouldn't she blow this out first?
- Then what's the point of the sparklers? [chuckles]
We need to sing Happy Birthday as we bring in the cake. Right?
- Can't she just blow these out?
[laughing]
- Okay, now, help me put sparklers on the cake
and we can do this properly. Okay?
- Come on. - It's okay, honey.
- Woman 2: Yeah.
Sparklers.
[blows air through lips]
- That was weird. - You think?
- How's the place you're staying?
- It's nice.
- Some rich opera patron? - Yeah, they're away.
- Weren't you gonna arrange-- - What were you doing upstairs?
- I was showing Dimitra your old CD collection.
- Why? - Where's Harold?
- Harold died last year, Margot.
- Woman 2: Get ready. Three, two, one.
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Margot...
[tense score]
- I really appreciate you coming here
and doing this. I know how busy things are.
- No problem. - [score fades out]
- So, this is the props room.
This is, like, one of my favorite places.
You can see pretty much all the props
from every show the opera company's ever done.
- It's crazy.
- And, uh, yeah, we've got a bit of a collection going
of severed heads here from other productions.
- Cute.
- So, uh, like I said, the company's asked me
to do this thing about the head kind of to market the show.
- I get it.
- And, uh, yeah,
I thought it might be cool to get a few words from you
about what this prop means now after so many years.
- Okay.
- (softly) Okay.
So, uh, tell me about working on this production
all those years ago.
- Well, I was more of an observer.
Like a, like an intern.
- Like an observer... to the director.
- Yeah, I mean, we had a lot of conversations.
Uh, but I was still very much Charles' student back then.
- I gather that he was a pretty big presence.
- Yes, he was a very big presence.
Yes, Charles was a very big presence.
- What can you tell me about him?
Uh, why do you think Salome asks for the head
of John the Baptist?
- Well, she says it in the opera.
She just wanted to--
to kiss his lips and he wouldn't let her.
- Do you think that's a little extreme?
- Yes, it's extreme.
But I guess you need to see it as
the first recorded sex crime in biblical history.
[dramatic piano music]
Rejoice not thou land of Palestine
Because the rod of him
Who struck thee is broken
- So, Ambur, at this moment
this is when you can just collapse onto the swing.
[rope creaking]
Just two hands, slowly, gently just collapsing
because his voice is like a drug.
His voice makes you feel safe.
Yeah. Good. And, Johan,
can you check the monitor next to the camera, please?
- Uh... why is this my issue?
- Well, you have to position yourself back there,
and we need to see your mouth in the centre of the frame.
And when you're singing, you kind of, we lose you.
- But can't the camera move with me?
- It's on a tripod.
- Is that my problem?
- Yeah, I'm--I, uh, I'm-I'm, I'm sorry, it is.
- No! My problem, my job is to sing, right?
You can amplify my voice or project my lips
but these technical issues are your problem, not mine!
[sound system screeches]
- He's an asshole. - [Johan whispers in German]
Did you hear about him in that production in Stuttgart?
[feedback drones]
It--[sighs]
[phone ringing]
- Hi, it's Paul. Leave a message after the beep.
[beep] [intriguing score]
- Does Paul come to visit you often, Mom?
- [mysterious score] - Yes. It's nice.
He likes Dimitra.
- Are they up there now? - Let's see.
Dimitra?
[door opens]
[door closes]
- I thought you guys were finished.
- Uh, no. I-I called, I called back.
Is my husband there?
- Uh, I don't think so. Let me check upstairs.
- Okay.
- You think they're fooling around?
[exhales]
- I am amorous of thy body, John the Baptist.
Thy body is white,
like the snows that lie on the mountains of Judea
and come down into the valleys.
There is nothing in the world so white as thy body.
[intriguing score]
Suffer me to touch thy body.
- Back, daughter of Babylon.
By woman came evil into the world.
Speak not to me.
I will not listen to thee.
I listen but to the voice of the Lord God.
- It's great to get back to the text.
- The music makes a big difference.
- But the words. The words of Oscar Wilde.
Thy body is white like lilies in a valley.
Thy body is white
like snows on the mountains of Judea.
Suffer me to touch thy body.
It's so beautiful.
[rope creaking]
- Beautiful. Beautiful.
[creaking continues]
Just let the peel fall away. Just let it fall away like that.
Perfect. Okay, break it up.
And, now, I want you to taste one.
I want you to really taste it.
Feel how heightened it is with your eyesight gone.
Feel how, how powerful the flavor is.
Take away one sense,
all the others become heightened.
More real. More intense.
Remember that.
That's your responsibility as an artist.
[rope creaking]
[crow cawing]
- Salome is overwhelmed by her wakening desire.
But what is she being wakened from?
What's at the root of her crazed enchantment?
- Crazed enchantment. That's my new favorite line.
- What?
Thanks. What do you think it means, Lizzie?
- I don't know. I don't know where you came up with that.
- You don't? - No.
- When do you find out. - In a day or two.
I mean, it's a small thing.
- It's not a small thing, Mom. You're directing a show.
- Yeah, I'm remounting it, baby.
[phone ringing]
- Hello? Yeah, did you hear what she said?
- Paul: It'd be great if they, if they publish it.
- Did you read the new draft? - Not, no, not the whole thing.
But I loved that line about crazed enchantment.
[dog barking in distance]
- That's the part I just rewrote.
That's the one I just read to you.
- Yeah. No. No, no. Like, no. The line from the play.
- The one, um... [sucks teeth] [tense score]
that Salome's father says how he-he loves her too much.
- Jeanine (VO): You're always looking at her.
You look at her too much.
- Well, that's not my essay. I didn't write that.
- Yeah, but... Yeah, but it's in the play.
I mean, you want me to read-- I read the whole thing.
- It's in Oscar Wilde's play. - Yeah.
- It is dangerous to look at people
in such a fashion.
Something terrible may happen.
- Have you...
mentioned anything to Lizzie about this being a separation?
- Lizzie: No, I guess I'm just scared.
- I, I just...
I told her that it's-- it's different this time.
- Different in what way? - Just you going off
to do the show, and...
How we're just gonna see how it feels
to be apart for this long.
- It--
Don't you think that's a talk that we should've had together?
- We've had that conversation - No, the three of us?
- Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow.
- I think you need to insist on this, Jeanine.
The-they they have to
put your director's notes in the program.
I mean, so many ideas from the show
were inspired by you. Right?
Crazed enchantment. All that.
[dog barking in distance]
[piano playing]
Thy hair is like a cluster of grapes
like the cluster of black grapes
that hang from the vines of Edom
- Let's pause real quick.
So, as Salome is going on in detail
about how she wants to touch John the Baptist's body
and, and his hair and his lips, there is
an entirely separate dynamic that's happening right here.
Uh, could you sing the second line about how--
how beautiful Salome is?
- Yep. - At rehearsal six.
[piano playing]
How beautiful is the Princess Salome this evening
- Thank you. It's all this pain and-and-and yearning.
It's what-- It's what leads you
to eventually...
- ...kill yourself, right? - Yep.
- Because you can't have her.
Those are the same exact ways she can't have John the Baptist.
And you have this secret crush on Narraboth.
And he pays no attention to you. He doesn't--
You, you don't exist. It's...
It's her, and-and-and to hear...
For somebody to hear a sound like that...
Can you sing it again, please?
How beautiful is the Princess Salome this evening
To hear a sound like that and, and know that he...
he's capable of this passion, but it's not directed at you.
It's not for you, it's for her.
- Mm-hm. - It's maddening.
It's just this crazy mess of-of-of...
This crazy mess of feeling. Right?
And so as-- while Salome is singing
about how wonderful it would be to, to, to touch
just touch John the Baptist's hair,
it-it ignites something in you.
It inspires you to touch Narraboth's hair.
Okay. Okay, let's, uh, let's go back to one-oh-one.
[piano playing]
It is thy hair that I am enamored
Jokanaan
Thy hair is like a cluster of grapes
like the cluster of black grapes
that hang from the vines of Edom.
[singing, piano stop]
- We really like the piece. We just don't think it serves
the purpose, the function of a director's statement.
- The function? I'm sorry...
So, you're gonna use Charles's notes from before?
- Yeah, it's still pertinent. - Okay, seriously?
Nancy, Charles, don't you think he would want me to have
my director's notes published?
He's the one who invited me to remount this.
- It's Beatrice's decision.
- Oh, so, it's what his wife wants.
So, as part of her final wishes for her husband.
- Yes, like I said, what Beatrice wants.
Look, even though we're not gonna publish
in the program officially as a director's statement
I thought it might have other outlets.
- Like what? - Like sharing in interviews.
I've already had a request. This, um, podcast...
- Okay, sure.
- I also had this idea that you might wanna create a journal
that we could post on the site like a, like a diary
of what it means to you to be working on this
so many years later. You can shoot it on your phone.
We can help you edit it. You can even...
make it more personal if that's what you want.
- More personal than what? - Than what you've written here.
- You think this is personal?
- Isn't it?
One more thing.
We were a little concerned about what you said the other day
at the presentation, wanting to make changes
to the original production.
- As I said, small changes.
- Small, but meaningful.
- That's right.
[suspenseful score]
[deep breath, sigh]
- I've been asked to make this personal.
So I will.
- That's the whole point. That he never looks at me.
- This is for you, Charles.
- That's what Salome is begging him to do
that he never sees me.
- The person who wanted me here.
- Right, 'cause if he did, then he would love her.
- Exactly. But do you ever get the sense that he would?
- Now I'm back.
[discussion continues quietly]
Without you.
Alone.
Alone to watch the understudies for Salome and John the Baptist
discuss roles they may never get to play.
Alone to watch an empty orchestra pit
from your favorite place in the house.
A bridge between two different worlds.
Alone to watch someone try out a swing
that came from somewhere in my childhood.
Later that night I watch a clip from the production
you directed so many years ago.
How perfectly her white dress
flowed into the unfurling screen.
Like they were both one piece of magical fabric.
How perfectly the shadow of my father
was discovered on the projected home movie
of the girl.
You asked me about so many details, Charles.
And I willingly provided them
because you made me feel so loved.
A girl walking blindfolded through the forest.
And in the shadow of her father,
my father,
who you directed with such meticulous detail
to reach for her.
- Harold: Keep following that.
[dramatic boom, rumbling]
There's a bog coming up in a little bit.
When I say big step, you take a big step.
No hesitation. Keep coming. Big step.
Big step. There you go.
- HAROLD: The moon has a strange look tonight.
- Jeanine: The moon has a strange look tonight.
She is like a madwoman.
- She's like a madwoman. - Seeking everywhere.
- Seeking.
- My father's words to me, Charles.
From the play that haunted you both.
- At first I wanted to try making the head as a sculpture
as opposed to the more traditional method
which would just be to make a cast of the singer's head.
I studied sculpture in art school
and I really enjoy this kind of slower method.
Uh, so to start...
I asked Johan to send me
a few photos from Germany of his face
just to gimme an idea of the shape of his features.
And I got this started and, um...
I think it's pretty good.
So, the next step will be to have Johan come into the studio
and I'll work on getting the finer details of his face.
[birds cooing]
- This is really strange.
You know, usually, they make a cast.
- Yeah, I know.
Uh, but the guy who'd normally be doing that, my boss,
he's sick.
But I find that this is less invasive for you.
Sometimes singers get a little freaked out
when there's all this stuff on their head.
- Hm. So, you are going old school.
[music plays quietly]
- I mean, I can make a cast. I know how to, but...
Definitely, this sculpture should work.
And, uh, these pictures that you sent me,
these were really helpful. Kind of gave me a head start.
[Johan laughs]
- A head start on my head.
[laughs]
- Exactly.
- You're so serious suddenly.
What has Ambur told you about me?
- Why do you think she'd tell me anything about you?
- Mm, I've heard you two know each other.
- Yeah, we were, we were friends a while ago.
- Here?
- Yep. Before she went off.
[Johan speaks German]
- "And conquered the world."
- Yeah, right.
Yeah, that's Ambur. Conquer the world.
- I think she has a pretty high opinion
of herself, yes?
- Well, she's super-confident. Yeah, she always has been.
- Hm.
- She did tell me about the last production
that you did in Europe.
- Stuttgart, hm?
- Sounds like it was pretty intense.
- Did she go into details?
- Just that it was a different interpretation.
- It was very physical.
Very naked.
She probably told you that I crossed some lines.
- Well, she, she-- - I know that's what she thinks,
but I was just following direction.
Doing my job.
- Oh.
Oh, I love this part.
[music gets louder]
- Hm. - When I first heard this--
[music fades out]
- Hi. - Hey.
- Jeanine. - Charlie. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - I'll leave you two alone.
- Thanks, Nancy. - Thank you.
- Thank you for doing this.
I've really been looking forward to speaking with you.
- Well, I hear very good things about your podcast.
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
Singers like to post their interviews,
helps the fans get to know them.
- Sure, sure. - To be honest, I, uh...
don't usually speak with directors.
- Oh, well, that's understandable. Right?
- [laughs] Right.
Can I first grab you a cup of tea?
- Oh, uh... No, thank you.
I'm okay. I'm good.
- Glass of water?
- Yes. Sure.
- Nice setup. - Thanks, yeah.
I'll just be a jiff. It might be a little dirty, actually.
- Ah, thanks. You don't have to--Mm, okay.
[glass squeaking]
- You're a... [chuckles]
You're a little bit overdressed for this.
- I-I didn't know, I didn't know what to expect
or what you needed from me, so...
- Oh, did you think we'd have cameras?
- I don't know. - Hoping to get filmed?
[both laugh lightly]
I asked for this interview because, um...
I'm a little bit obsessed with this production.
- Oh. - I find it so interesting
that you've come back to remount it.
I mean, you must have been so young back then.
- Well, I'm-I'm probably older than I look.
- Yeah. Okay, but also...
uh...
you don't direct opera. I mean, I looked you up, uh...
you do regional theatre, right? A lot of trade shows?
- Should we start? I just don't wanna lose...
any time with you 'cuz things are a little hectic.
- Oh, uh, we've already started. [chuckles]
- Oh.
- We're rolling.
- Okay, great. - Oh!
Sorry. Almost forgot.
I brought you... some cookies.
[plate clatters] [Charlie laughs]
Just careful not to chomp on 'em.
- Okay. Thank you so much.
- No crunching while we roll.
- Good? - Yeah.
- All right.
- It sounds like this totally insane production.
So, John the Baptist is all over Salome,
like, the entire time.
Like he's some kind of sex-starved monster
or cult leader or something.
And the words that are coming out of his mouth
have nothing to do with the way he's behaving,
which is, basically,
groping her naked body as she's going on and on
about how beautiful his hair and his skin and his lips are.
[gentle classical piano plays quietly]
What?
- You didn't know that?
About the production.
- No. No, 'cause it was in Germany, right?
- Mm. - Stuttgart.
So, had nothing to do with our show.
- Yeah, but don't you stay in touch?
- With Ambur? - Mm-hm.
- No, of course not.
[Rachel scoffs]
- So, you don't follow her.
- No.
We broke up a long time ago.
- When she went off and conquered the world.
- That is so weird that you would say that.
But that's the exact same expression
that Johann used except he said it in German
and then he had to translate it back to me.
and he pronounced it concord the world
Rachel...
[chair rattling on floor]
Ambur got very lucky.
There is nothing, like, nothing...
that I would love more than to see you on that stage.
It'll happen.
Just watch.
[both mouth "Love you."]
- That's tough.
Covering a role can be frustrating.
- And-and part of her is grateful for the work.
And, I mean, now she knows the role.
- It's in her repertoire. - Right.
- And, who knows, if Rachel's lucky,
she might even get to sing it.
- Like, if something happens to me.
- Yeah, like, if I kill you. - [scoffs] Nice.
- I mean, it would be her dream come true.
- That you murdered me?
- That she would get a chance.
- Well, I'm here to do six performances,
remain healthy... and not die.
- Of course.
- You're not actually asking me to give up a performance?
[Johan singing in German in distance]
[approaching footsteps]
[wooden item clatters to floor]
Even if I wanted to...
as a favor, it's not so simple.
I'd have to get a doctor's note--
- Of course.
- And this is how I make my living, Clea.
I don't sing, I don't get paid.
The understudy would get my fee.
- Ambur, of course.
[Ambur laughs]
- Jeanine, you hate that house.
And everything that happened to you there,
you cringe every time you set foot in the place.
But that's not how Lizzie feels.
- We're not talking about Lizzie.
- I know, we're talking about your imagination.
- What happened in that house was not my imagination.
- I know, I know. But...
But what you think is happening with me and Dimitra is.
- So, you're not, you're not sleeping with her?
- Not in the house, no.
- Oh, because, 'cause you have boundaries.
- We talked about this. I-I...
I mean, we're supposed to be honest with one another.
- Yeah, okay, yeah, not sleep with each other's friends.
- Well, she's not a friend. She's a nurse.
- She's my mother's caregiver and we pay her.
- I know, but this thing with me and her can end at any time.
And I love you.
And you know that.
We're supposed to be exploring.
Isn't that what you're doing? Exploring?
We agreed on this. Uh, uh...
- What you said before about my mother's house
and all the things that he did to me... there...
Do--Uh...
What does that have to do with you and Dimitra?
- No, I wasn't talking about Dimitra.
I was talking about Lizzie.
- Okay, but we're talking about Dimitra now.
- Well, she's the person who takes care of your mother.
- Uh-huh?
[Jeanine sighs]
- I told you...
that this might not be the best idea
to-to-to be doing this right now.
You can't go back into that world,
the opera and your, your history with Charles
and expect it to not have effect on you.
And the stuff with your mom
and your dad dying like that just last year.
[disquieting score]
- The stuff with my mom...
Which part?
- Harold: Do you love your mother, Jeanine?
Isn't she special?
This is my love letter to you, Margot, my beautiful wife,
who's given me our beautiful angel daughter.
[rope creaking]
So perfect, so intelligent.
So talented.
- Hey, do we have a machete?
- Yeah. Uh, for what?
- For Salome's mother to use.
- To do what? - To cut off the head.
- Uh, okay, isn't the guard going to do that with,
um, with the axe?
- Right, well, I want him to go first with the axe
and then have her mother follow with the machete.
- So, she beheads John the Baptist.
- No, that's not clear. We nev--we never know.
I just had this idea that she's going to be presenting
John the Baptist's head to her daughter.
- Okay, and she'll do that on the platter.
- Um... No.
I think...
Not-not on a platter. I think in a bowl.
Right? I think in a--
in a clear plastic bowl that's that size.
And you know what? I also just want...
I want real tangerines 'cause I want to use them.
- Mm-hm. - I want them to...
I want there to be action.
- Okay, yeah, so
we're gonna have a clear plastic bowl
with tangerines in it and the head in there.
- No, no, the tangerines are gonna--
So, we're gonna establish the clear plastic-plastic bowl
(sputters) on the set,
and then we're gonna use it later for the head.
- Got it. Okay, uh, yeah, I can...
find a machete and a bowl
and we'll pick up some tangerines.
- Great. And I need that all by tomorrow rehearsal.
- I'll have something. - Thank you.
- Great. Um, hey, what do you think of this?
- Is that a cast? - [score fades out]
- No, I sculpted it.
- Why?
- I just, I wasn't sure
that we needed to do it that way.
- You might wanna rethink this
because, um... [sucks teeth]
it's just, if we're recording this,
this isn't gonna work because of the closeup.
[pedestal creaks]
- Right.
So, can you just look at it and kind of describe
what your concerns are with it?
- Well, I think this is...
You've done really good work, but it-it's not feeling right.
- Okay. And why is that?
- Because it's, um, well, it's a sculpture
and a sculpture changes over time.
It evolves as you're working on it.
But a cast... is-is like a photo.
It's a snapshot of somebody's face
while it's being set in mold, like a death mask.
- Okay, so, then...
should I give him any kind of direction
as I'm, as I'm making the mask?
- About what?
- Like his expression as I'm putting this stuff on his face.
- That's a good question. Um...
He's at peace with the idea.
- Of having his head chopped off?
- Of knowing that he needs to be sacrificed.
- Okay, I gotta go. You good? - Yeah. Thank you.
- Thank you.
Uh, I think it would make sense if-if, Ambur, you...
scrambled around trying to pick these up.
- I'd rather stay here and watch.
- Uh, Jeanine, you can't just have tangerines
rolling into the orchestra pit.
- Okay. - I'm sorry.
I don't understand what my wife is doing.
Who's chopping the head off?
- Well, that's not clear. Maybe both of you.
- But... (sputters)
It doesn't take two people to chop a head off.
Normally there's an axe, now there's a machete.
They've just sent down a guard who's been told to do that.
- And now the both of you
have to take full responsibility for what you're doing.
- I'm sorry, I don't understand.
- You don't have to understand. You just have to trust
that this is what you have to do.
Salome danced because she had something to say.
Not because she had to prove anything to anybody.
Not the least of all to you.
[thunder rumbling in distance]
[quiet tense score]
- The winter storm has taken down a tree
at the house I'm staying in.
No major damage done.
But the owners will come back to find it broken.
[shutter clicking]
I send them a picture to lessen the blow.
[rain patters on windows]
- It's so strange to be surrounded
by photos of somebody else's family.
Especially when I'm thinking about
the family that you promised me.
Did you ever believe in that family, Charles?
- I try to speak with you, Charles.
- Were you... really prepared to leave her for me?
- As though you're beside me.
[woman opera singer singing in German]
I've been asked to make this personal.
So I am.
Pretending that you can hear my words.
I feel my hair
as a singer you directed so long ago feels his hair.
[singing becomes louder]
I watch how possessed she became
and remember how possessed I became.
The crazed enchantment.
How do I bring you back?
[tense score]
Bring what we had back?
[thunder rumbles]
I brought the book of pictures you made.
I hold it as something sacred.
A faint and lingering fragrance.
[rustling]
The inhalation of you.
Blurred traces of your spirit, Charles.
The beautiful dance of her fingers
as they draw energy from his lips.
Your lips.
The moon has a strange look tonight.
[woman continues singing in German]
She is like a madwoman
seeking everywhere for lovers.
[man sings in German]
I can feel you beside me as I watch.
The way your fingers ran over my skin.
The electric shock of your touch.
[woman sings in German]
Having you inside me.
[man sings in German]
[gunshot]
I wanted you so much.
[dramatic opera music]
And thou did'st fill my veins with fire.
Wherefore dids't thou not look at me?
If thou hast looked at me,
thou hast loved me.
[Johan singing in German]
Well, I know that thou would'st have loved me.
[singing in German continues]
I shoot the new singers in their costumes
for the first time.
They look just like their counterparts from back then.
- Jeanine: You look amazing, Carolyn.
- They laugh nervously as I tell them
how good they look.
But I know that they'll never achieve the crazy rapture
you got with your singers back then.
- Where's my mark? - Oh, mark there.
- What more can I do to inspire them, Charles...
to get the same performance as you did?
Never!
I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan
I will kiss thy mouth
Princess, thou art like a garden of myrrh
Thou art the dove of all doves
Look not at this man
Do not speak such words to him
I cannot suffer them
I will kiss...
- Carolyn? - [singing, piano stop]
Is there any way you can move your head up and down?
Because I-I just really wanna-- I want it to--
be very clear as to what...
what you're doing.
And-and if you look at what Ambur's doing,
I can-I can, I can feel her desperation
in her entire body.
She's just, and I-and I, I just wanna feel like, um,
like you have that exact same need.
So I guess if you just, like, a little bit more...
movement
in the moment.
- You want me to look at Ambur. - No, no, no, no, no.
Just [sputters] you stay with Narraboth.
And with the--more...
- Okay. - I think we should
maybe... take it back to the rehearsal room.
- We'll have to get the intimacy coordinator for this.
She should be around for this kind of thing.
- The intimacy coordinator.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Was it important to you back then? And...
is it important to you now?
- I'm sorry, what? Was what important?
- That it feels like they're actually having sex on stage.
- Right.
Well, I'm trying to...
- fulfill the original concept. - Yeah, but it's your show now.
- In some ways. - And whatever erotic energy
existed back then, it's not necessarily
what we're dealing with now. Right?
I mean, you're not the same person that you were
and he's not the same person that he was.
- Charles is dead.
- Hm.
Of course.
So he's definitely not the same person. Hm.
- So, we're gonna go all the way down.
Long, flat back and then roll up... Great.
And then do a real, um, do a really thorough, like,
back bend, like a roll-through. Kind of like cat cow in...
- [piano, singing] - Where is he?
- Uh, he just messaged. He's running late 15 minutes.
- Okay, I don't think we can do this without him.
And this intimacy coordinator's not working for me.
- Feels like a waste of time. - But we have no choice.
We need an intimacy coordinator for these scenes.
- Mmm... Do we?
- Yes, it's a requirement.
- Okay, Ambur, stop.
[piano, singing stop]
Luke, could you come with me for a second please?
It's good. It's so good. The physicality--
working on physicality's great but it has to be
driven from something, right?
You have to be inspired by what is happening.
There has to be something moving you
that's more in your body and your soul.
So, as she is singing,
about how beautiful John the Baptist's hair is,
you are using that as permission
as an opportunity that the music is also giving you
to then touch him. Right? So, you--
From the part where she says his hair is amazing.
[piano chord plays]
So, it's like you suddenly have this ability
to express through your fingers
everything that Salome can only sing about.
[low tense score]
[Jeanine speaks German]
It is... in thy hair...
that I am enamored.
Let me touch thy hair.
Thank you.
[intriguing score]
And then there's this crazy thing happening downstage.
And, so, everything that you're doing is unleashed then.
Think of Salome.
She is using everything in her power
to have this crazy man beheaded.
[laughs]
So, what is the point of all this sacrifice
that ends in the most gruesome thing
that you've ever seen on stage?
Is it passion? Is it punishment? What is it?
But whatever it is, that emotion that you're getting from it,
that emotion is filtering through you.
[laughs]
It's painful and it's beautiful
and-and-and-and-and, so, you're not just sucking him off,
you are fully consuming him so much so that he has...
he has nothing else to do but pick up the gun,
point it to his head and shoot himself dead
[score fades out]
just as he's about to come.
Explosion.
[gentle piano score]
And then Salome picks up the gun
that he just used to kill himself
and she walks downstage, she puts the gun to her head
just like she's going to shoot herself.
[Herod laughs]
- Jeanine: I don't understand. Are you... Are you spying on me?
- Of course not.
I'm here to support you in any way I can.
- Okay, so, I don't understand what you're saying.
- That management is a little concerned
about some of the ideas that you had at the presentation.
- [groans] Beatrice. - About making changes.
- I said they are small changes.
- Right, but then you had this idea about Salome
shooting herself.
- What?
He shoots himself. Narraboth.
- But then she picks up his gun and--
- And contemplates it.
[score fades out] [Kathy sighs]
She doesn't kill herself.
If, if she killed herself, then the opera
would end right there and it doesn't. Right?
If she died,
then there wouldn't be anybody to sing her role.
Like, what, what's with the head, then?
I mean, what is this all for? That is ridiculous.
- But now you have this idea about her mother
and the machete...
I-I have to tell them. I'm just letting you know that.
- So, you are spying on me.
- Look, we all understand that you must
feel very conflicted about all of this, but--
- No, I'm not. I'm-I'm really not.
Really, when I chose...
When I accepted this job,
I told myself that I was gonna make the most of it. Okay?
So, you know, you can tell management
that it was an odd choice on their part to remount this.
Okay, considering that everybody
thought that Charles was difficult, to say the least.
Even though management happened to be married to him
for 30 years.
- It was Beatrice's decision. It's a successful show.
- Okay, but she didn't have to fulfill his stupid wish.
Nobody had to, to take that request seriously.
It's not like somebody was gonna sue them if I didn't remount it.
No one needed to know. I didn't need to know.
We wouldn't even be having this conversation, Kathy.
[door opens] [indistinct conversation]
- Look, I should head back.
Everybody's getting off break now and...
- Yeah. It's fine.
[shuddering breath, exhale]
[door opens]
[tense score]
[sniffle, deep exhale]
- Harold: Your daughter is going to dance for me.
Will you not dance for me, Salome?
- Charlie: That is really enlightening.
- Harold: If you dance for me,
you may ask of me whatever you wish
and I will give it to thee.
- Charlie: But that leads me to my next question.
I hear you're making a diary about the whole experience.
Is that like, um...
like a last letter to Charles?
[score fades out]
- A journal, uh, yeah, I was thinking about that.
I was. I think it's a-- It would be nice to...
To-to, um, to write about my...
my experience as I'm taking on this production.
Um, I am shooting some footage
behind the scenes with my iPhone.
I think that's gonna... turn into something.
I don't know what yet, but it's important to me to, to...
to have that footage.
- Okay, that sounds really interesting. And, um...
Can we talk about the relationship between you two
during the original production?
- What do you mean?
- I mean your relationship with Charles.
- Our working relationship.
- I mean, didn't it go beyond that? It's...
kind of common knowledge around here.
- I-I don't feel comfortable talking about that.
Okay, if-if we can not discuss that.
- Of course.
How about I share something with you?
- I knew Charles.
Charles told me his story once
about how the whole dance section in the opera
is, um...
based on something that happened with your father.
In real life.
And I-I had the absolute privilege
to see the essay that you wanted to print in the program.
I thought it was incredibly disrespectful
they didn't want to use it.
But, um...
I was interested in your fascination
in Herod's line to Salome, you know?
About loving her too much.
Charles told me that your dad used to make these crazy videos
about you and you both would go into the forest when were little
and he would tape you while you made these bizarre dances.
I mean, how do you feel about how that has inspired,
- ...very clearly... - [tense score]
a major part of this whole show?
[thunder rumbling] [eerie score]
[rope creaking]
- I...
think I need a break.
Excuse me.
- Something wrong?
Beatrice wants to have a word with you.
Harold: Do you feel the wind on your skin?
- Young Jeanine: Yeah.
- Yes? It's more sensitive now, isn't it?
- Jeanine: It is true, Salome. - Harold: Take away one sense,
all the others become heightened.
- Your beauty has troubled me.
- More intense. Remember that.
- Your beauty has grievously troubled me.
- That's your responsibility as an artist.
[sighs]
[dramatic score]
- Jeanine: And I have looked at you too much.
It may be that I have loved you too much.
- She's had a good day.
- Is that right, Mom?
- If that's what she says.
- Oh.
- Do you know where I am?
- Doing your work.
- And what is that?
- Making plays.
You've always liked plays.
You like making things up.
[dramatic score continues]
- Are you proud of your daughter?
- Oh, yes.
- See?
- Proud of the things I make up?
Do you know how long I'm gonna be gone, Mom?
- I'm not sure. [laughs]
- Ask Dimitra. She knows.
Down to the hour.
[Margot laughs]
- 'Til the end of the month. - Oh.
- Yeah. Exactly. Just enough time.
[Margot laughs]
- She wonders if I know.
This is probably almost exactly how Beatrice imagined me.
Your wife.
Just a silly little threat. Another passing fling.
What does she really know about what has gone on in this house?
I imagine her swinging around to glance at the family portrat
suddenly frightened by the story it tells.
How my father read me so many plays
and made me act out so many scenes.
His artistic aspirations for me
somehow always as frustrated as his aspirations for himself.
[score fades out]
- Now that we've abandoned the sculpture idea,
we're going to try for the more traditional method.
So the first step in the process that you're going to see
is I will put a layer of petroleum jelly on Johan's face,
and then, on top of that, I'll use a soft alginate gel
which will pick up the details of his skin.
And for that phase I'm gonna work really quickly
because it dries super-fast,
like, it's gonna set in less than ten minutes.
- [calm guitar music] - So...
I end up being your guinea pig after all.
- Yeah, I just realized that
there needed to be a lot more detail in the head.
It's really gotta be lifelike, especially for the broadcast.
- No worries. I'm used to this.
It's the way it's usually done.
- I'm sorry to have wasted your time.
- Not at all.
I enjoy watching you work.
[man and woman sing along to gentle guitar]
Can I keep it? I mean... the sculpture?
- Yeah, I guess.
- I'll give it to the national gallery back home.
- Okay, I'm gonna put some on your lips now
so you might want to stop talking.
- My lips will be sealed.
- Uh, no, no.
- Stop it? - No, just... Stop!
- Stop! - [objects clatter onto floor]
- This was unexpected. - [tense score]
A singer playing John the Baptist
makes a pass at me.
What's that thing in the Bible about judge not?
[indistinct conversations in background]
- Things became...
really complicated.
Like, when you and I were working on that thing in school
things were...
really intense.
[score speeds up, becomes more agitated]
- With Charles and you.
- Mmm.
And...
And other things.
- I sensed something was going on.
- No you didn't.
No.
How?
- I was watching you...
the whole time.
I couldn't take my eyes off you.
(chuckles) Um, I could tell you were in a crazy place.
[discordant score]
I wanted to help you find a way out.
- Jeanine: Somewhere.
Here...
there's an awful sense of vagueness.
Uncertainty between what I remember
and what actually took place.
The girl takes off her blindfod
and stares ahead as he scurries away.
[intermittent drumming] [film projector sound]
She feels the blindfold in her hand
rubbing it as other shadows appear.
[expansive orchestra score with drumming]
Ravenous men
watching as she dances for her father.
And for them.
I never agreed with the way you staged
these dark monsters, Charles.
How you made Salome look like a stripper in a club
performing for a bunch of leering customers.
It was never like that.
Not from what I remembered.
Not from what I told you.
They touched her.
They stroked her.
Did she give them permission?
You never made that clear.
This dark doppelganger.
No, it was never like that.
That's not how it felt.
I remember dark fangs and talos
and their terrible wings as they beat the air around me.
I remember feeling trapped.
But there was nowhere to escape to.
[film projector whirring]
Now, this time...
I try something different.
- And then, now, I kind of wanna feel the trees.
I wanna feel like we're in the forest.
Not deep into it but I just wanna sense she's in the forest.
- I want the trees and branches to come alive
with a sense of the horror they are witnessing.
- I really wanna feel...
- Like their spirits are being tortured
as Salome performs her nightmarish
dance of the seven veils.
- And can you make the body feel like
you're almost getting younger?
From a woman into a little girl.
And then I want a scream. I want a, I want a, just a...
Amazing. Yeah. Okay, perf-- And then she's bigger.
You can get even bigger and bigger.
[no vocalizing]
- I am Salome.
Daughter of Herodias.
Princess of Judea.
[driving, rhythmic score]
[score diminishes to low tone]
- Jeanine: What does Ambur really think of the ballerinas?
- I wanna break them.
- Are you serious? - Mm, very.
Just cover my eyes.
[indistinct conversations] [Ambur laughs]
[score gets louder]
Let me kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan
Cursed be thou...
Daughter of an incestuous mother
be thou accursed
Let me kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan
I will not look at thee
Thou art accursed, Salome, thou are accursed
Thou art accursed
[score resumes loudly]
[gunshot]
[dramatic score]
- Jeanine: It is thy mouth that I desire.
It is like a pomegranate cut in twain
with a knife.
Suffer me to kiss thy mouth.
- Clea: No...
- Stop! Stop! - [objects clatter on floor]
[score ends abruptly]
- I don't understand. Was this staged?
- Uh, what do you mean?
- Did you ask him to do this?
- No. No, of course not. I told him to stop.
- Okay, but... - And he didn't.
- And why are you thinking of sending this out now?
Didn't this happen a few days ago?
- Last week as I was making the cast.
- And you finished making the cast,
let's be clear on that.
This thing happened
then you went ahead and finished making the cast.
- It took me a while to fully absorb it.
You asked me to document everything
that went into making the head of John the Baptist.
And this is everything.
- Okay.
But this is also a recording of, uh,
of an attack. Uh... [laughs nervously]
A sexual attack.
- And you're making that public.
- That's right.
- Just before we open this production.
[tense score]
Why?
- I am...
just completing the job that I was told to do.
I have an email from the marketing team that says
I can, I can do this any way that I want to.
That I should make it personal.
And this just got very personal.
I feel that I have a responsibility
to make it known.
- We're not obliged to give our approval.
- Really?
You're not gonna give me your approval?
Is that the message that the opera company
wants to put out there
when I decide to show this anyway?
I just-I don't-I don't think that is a great idea
to try and ban me from making this public.
- Does he know?
Johan. That you're planning to do this?
- Not yet.
- Okay. [clears throat]
What can we do to get you to reconsider?
I know this must have been very traumatic for you, Clea.
I'm not trying to diminish that.
Is there any way we can find a solution?
I would that they presently bring me
on a silver platter
Surely yes, on a silver platter
- What is she doing?
- What do you mean? - Ambur, what is she doing?
What is it you would have on a silver platter
Salome, you are who are fairer
than all the daughters of Judea
Why is she in a different opera right now?
- Uh, is it the performance?
Whatsoever it may be, they shall give it to you
- I--I...
I don't understand. I thought...
Can we, like, pause for one second?
[Kathy laughs]
- Uh, what is it that you're not happy with?
What is it, Salome?
- Harold: Put your hand to your face.
Yeah, perfect. Just like that.
It's sensual. You know that word.
Some people have a problem with that word.
But it sounds good. It's not bad.
- I'm sorry, what is she doing? What is she doing?
- Why is your hand to your face like that?
Are you playful?
The head of Jokanaan No!
- It's... Stop. Stop. Sorry.
Ah! That is well said my daughter
That is well said
- Stop. Stop, stop. Sorry.
- I'm sorry. I have one-- - [yelling in German]
- It's my rehearsal. Excuse me. - I just need a moment.
- It's ridiculous. - It's very important, okay?
Ambur, there's nothing mischievous
- ...or sly or playful - Go back into the dance.
- ...about any of this. - Please go back to letter Q.
- You're not a sex kitten. - Big letter Q with upbeat.
- You're not happy about this decision.
- We take it with an upbeat.
- This is not something that you're taking pleasure from.
You did not dance naked for your father
and allow yourself to be raped by a gang of strangers
- [orchestra plays] - for some petulant little game.
You agreed to do this crazy dance
because you desperately needed to show John the Baptist
that you love him.
Right? And this monster is taking advantage of that.
And your mother is just standing there, watching.
You are taking this action because you want to, somehow,
liberate yourself from your father
and everything that he represents.
You need John the Baptist's head because you need to prove
that you are worthy of being loved.
You're not just a plaything for your father's dark need
that he has to fulfill.
This is something that you now need to do for yourself.
Right?
Is it, is it gonna make you feel better?
Is it gonna change anything?
You have no idea
what is going to come of your actions.
[stirring orchestra music]
(emotional) Nothing is clear to you
right now except your pain.
[music intensity increases]
[music turns sinister]
- Harold: Dance for me.
Dance for me.
Suffer me to touch thy body.
The moon has a strange look tonight.
Hasn't she a strange look?
Keep following me.
Keep following my voice.
Keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.
[orchestra fades out, resumes frenetically]
[orchestra plays quietly]
Slowly, slowly you start to collapse.
And as you're doing that, you hear my words
and you remember these words. They make you feel safe.
[dramatic music]
[rumbling]
- Why would you ask Dimitra to do that?
- I'm sorry, I shouldn't have to explain that to you, Paul.
It's always haunted me. Okay?
- Okay. It's just so... - It's what? Is it unnerving?
- It's-it's crazy. - Yeah, it is crazy.
- You know what's even crazier? I told Dimitra
that I was okay with what you guys were doing
as long as she did this one thing for me.
- And you were sincere about that?
That if-if she does that to the painting, then...
then you're cool with what's happening between us.
- Okay. Um...
Okay.
Can you see that, Margot?
- Wh... Oh, dear.
What's happened to Harold's face?
- Your daughter asked me to do that.
- Why?
- Not sure, Margot. She didn't explain.
- So, why did you do it?
- Because.
She doesn't want to see his face anymore when she comes to visit.
So, um...
can you think of a reason why?
- Jeanie thinks that Harold was a bad man.
[tender score] - Why?
- He loved her.
- What's wrong with that?
[discordant score]
- He loved her too much.
[sobbing]
- Dimitra: What does that mean?
- What does that mean?
You can leave the painting like that if you want.
[gentle, shuddering inhale]
[exhale]
- I hurt you.
[Margot sobs]
- How can you expect me to agree?
- Because, Rachel, you're gonna get to sing
with a real orchestra.
This is what you always dreamed of. Shit.
- It's blackmail, Clea. You've blackmailed the company
into letting me perform.
- I've discussed it with Ambur
and she's agreed to it.
- Well, that's even worse. - Why?
- Is she still getting paid? - Well, I mean...
normally it would go to you, but, in this case...
- But, we'll, just, uh, pay her something.
- No, we didn't get into to those details.
- Like a kickback? - No, it's not like that.
- Or go back and extort more.
- Okay, why are you looking at this
as though I've done something, like, criminal?
- Because it's really the only way to see it, Clea.
Maybe you even planned it from the beginning.
[bottle clunks onto table] [clock ticking quietly]
- Rachel, how could you say that to me?
(voice shaking) He made a pass at me.
I didn't plan that. I said stop and he didn't.
- And you taped it all. - Yes, because the opera company
told me to.
- And he knew that the camera was on him?
- Yes.
- He was aware that he was being taped?
- Yes. I just told you that.
Oh, my God. You sound just like them.
[Clea sniffles]
[Clea sobs]
[sniffles, sighs]
Rachel... [sniffles]
I am doing this... for you.
It's not about me.
- Clea...
- It's because I love you.
- How can you say that?
He attacked you.
You-you don't feel
- ...anything about that? - Of course I do.
- You knew the camera was on him.
You knew that you could use his actions
to frame him and, then,
the whole time it's happening you-you have a plan?
- No, the plan didn't occur to me until
after it happened.
- Clea...
what you are proposing to do is wrong.
What are you going to do?
With the recording?
[applause, enthusiastic shouts]
[orchestra plays]
- I don't know.
Shouldn't we go back to the opening?
- It's only a five-minute walk. We can head out really soon.
- Right, you have to take a bow.
- Yeah, I have to take my big bow.
I just want to take a moment to celebrate with you.
Just the two of us.
- I had a dream last night that I got to play the part.
- Like one of those anxiety dreams?
- What do you mean?
- Like when you open your mouth and nothing comes out
or you're late for an exam or you don't know
- ...the answers to stuff. - [cork pops]
Ooh. Incredible.
- No, I, uh, I sang well.
- It's not my house. [laughs] Well, that's unsurprising.
- [glass clinks] - Good for you.
- Even after I lost my head, I kept singing.
- Really? That's handy.
[Luke laughs]
- [glass clinks on bottle] - It was strange.
- Yeah, I bet. Cheers.
[glasses clink]
- It's the toughest part of the opera.
- What?
- She sings at the head way too long
before she kisses it.
- Well, there's nothing we can really do about that now.
[quiet slurp] [gentle score]
I wanna kiss thy lips, John the Baptist.
- I will not look at thee.
Thou art accursed.
- Okay.
It is of thy hair that I am enamored.
[glass clinks onto table]
There is nothing in the world
like your hair.
When the moon hides her face.
- [frustrated sigh] - When the stars are afraid.
Let me touch thy hair.
The head of Jokanaan
No!
Ah! That is well said, my daughter.
[cell phone dings]
[singing continues]
- Can you fill this?
What is it?
[singing continues]
[energetic orchestra music]
Who has taken my ring?
There was a ring in my right hand
Who has drunk my wine?
There was wine in my cup
It was full of wine Someone has drunk it
[music, singing continue]
- I thought we had an understanding.
- We did. - What, she went ahead anyway?
- Obviously. - Is this already online?
- Yeah, that's how I saw it.
I am sure some misfortune will happen
[dramatic rumbling]
[exhales]
There is no sound.
I hear nothing
Why does he not cry out, this man?
Ah! If any man sought to kill me,
I would cry out, I would struggle.
I would not suffer...
Strike, Naaman, strike, I tell you...
- I apologized after this
and I don't know what else to do, I-I-I...
- Stop, please stop. Enough.
[orchestra playing] [Ambur singing]
[Beatrice sighs]
- But, uh...
do I still take the curtain call?
[Beatrice scoffs]
[dramatic drumming]
Ah! Thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss...
thy mouth, Jokanaan!
Well, I will kiss it now.
I will bite it with my teeth...
- Jeanine: An enraged princess who would extract her price.
with my teeth
as one bites a ripe fruit.
Her stepfather begs her to change her mind.
I know I have sworn an oath, he says.
I have always loved.
Perhaps I have loved you too much.
[applause, cheering]
The conductor leaves his podium and finds his way to the stage.
As the curtain rises, Salome is there.
Her dress splattered in blood.
She waves her red-stained hands to the cheering crowd.
She expresses her gratitude to the musicians
in the pit below.
I'm taping this all
fully aware that I'm supposed to be
backstage now as well.
[applause, cheering continue]
I pan my camera back to the stage
and see Salome gesturing
for the conductor to take his applause.
[quiet haunting score]
This is where I'm supposed to now be.
Taking my bow.
But they realize that I'm a no-show.
They're still applauding for you, Charles.
Even with all the changes I've made.
[theatre sounds fade out]
- Will mine be ready in time?
[score fades out]
- No.
We'll have to use his head tonight.
- That's a bit of a stretch. - [quiet score]
- Well, we don't have a choice.
We're gonna work on yours, but it'll take a while.
We should have it ready for the recording, though.
- The recording?
So, I'll be doing the broadcast?
[cape flutters]
Wow.
- You're very lucky. - [snap clicks]
- What if I'm terrible?
What if I can't see the conductor?
You know, the whole thing with the blindfold.
- The blindfold's see-through.
No, you'll be amazing.
I know how seriously you and Rachel were preparing.
- I'd prefer to do it with her.
With Rachel.
- Well, that's not an option.
[sniffles]
[inhale, exhale]
- I'm sorry.
- I didn't mean to-- - No, it's okay.
I can imagine how brilliant
you and Rachel would've been together.
[tub down on wooden table]
And she's gonna get her chance too.
One day.
[cracking]
- Jeanine: From our conversation
she knew that a sculpture wouldn't do.
That a cast was more accurate.
- Ready? - Even if it was more invasive.
[tearing, cracking]
- Okay, keep your eyes closed. Just keep 'em closed.
- Don't open them. - Why not?
- Because some of the plaster
might have stuck to your eyelashes
and you don't want it to hurt.
- No, I don't.
- Little bit more.
Okay.
Now, open them slowly.
Mmm.
- She stares at his face with a sense of accomplishment.
Proud of how she's created this...
most magical of mirrors.
My daughter has done well
Herodias sings that Salome has made the right choice.
Finally, after years of witnessing her husband
abuse her daughter, she's ready to inflict
some crazy justice.
This is my interpretation, Charles.
I have no idea what you would've made of it.
[dramatic rumbling]
As the empty bowl is presented,
she has no more than a minute to fill it with the fake blood.
The tricky part comes next.
She takes the prop, places it under her arm.
Then, like a proud mother nursing her child
she feeds the special formula that looks so real
into the gaping wound of the severed head.
She needs to fill the cavity to capacity
so there's enough blood to drip onto Salome's white dress
for the entire length of her final aria.
[Ambur sings in German]
He was so beautiful to her...
that if he had only looked at her,
he would've loved her too.
That the mystery of love
is greater than the mystery of death.
[dramatic drumming]
She is monstrous, thy daughter.
She is altogether monstrous!
I approve of what my daughter has done.
And I will stay here now.
Ah, there speaks the incestuous wife!
Come! I will not stay here
Come! I tell thee.
Surely some terrible thing will befall.
[opera music continues]
[phone buzzing]
- Hi. How'd it go?
- Luke: It's still going.
- I would've loved to have been there.
- I'm in the dressing room now. She's kissing my lips.
[Ambur sings tenderly in German]
- She just said that the mystery of love
is greater than the mystery of death.
She's about to say that love has a bitter taste.
- They're calling me to go.
[dramatic loud orchestra]
- Jeanine: I have kissed thy mouth, John the Baptist.
I have kissed thy mouth.
[dramatic drumming] [sustained tremolo by violins]
[woodwinds play haunting melody over violin tremolo]
[flutes join with hopeful melody]
[volume rises, score turns darker]
[triumphant score]
[ascending harp arpeggio]
[other instruments play ascending arpeggios]
[gentle score]
[brass accent]
[string accent]
[brass fanfare]
[frenetic drumming]
[drum flourishes as credits disappear]
[fade to silence]
[airy glockenspiel score]
[score fades out]
[forest sounds]
[crow cawing in distance]
[rope creaking]
[crows cawing] [thunder rumbling]
[all sounds fade out]