FADE TO BLACK
FADE UP TO
INT. BAR NIGHT
This is the bar of the Rose and Crown where Alaric, Peter, Liam and Daniel are drinking. Daniel has a sketchbook with him.
LIAM
So let me get this straight. You're saying this is down to demonic
possession or something?
ALARIC
Demonic, certainly, but possession doesn't come into it. Daniel sold
his voice. He hopes to get his ex back, mad as that may sound. And
although Peter hasn't sold anything, I'm fairly sure all this... it's not to
our benefit.
PETER
Why? Why would it benefit de Musca if Daniel's work is displayed.
ALARIC
I don't know. But you do know that he was at the launch don't you?
Daniel looks at Alaric with a rather shocked expression. So for that matter, does Peter.
PETER
He wasn't. I didn't see him.
LIAM
I did.
Liam points to a sketch of Anna Kern.
LIAM
Do you know who this is?
PETER
Anna Kern. Daniel's ex.
LIAM
Yes. And do you know who Anna Kern is?
CUT TO:
INT. DEBATING CHAMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Anna Kern stands and makes a speech to the other Members. She speaks in Dutch but we hear her in English due to instant translation. The translator is in the lower foreground but Anna in in the centre of the screen.
ANNA (and translator)
Some members have spoken at great and nauseating length about the alleged
Islamic tide about to overrun Europe. Such intemperate
language may have been common sixty or seventy years ago although
then it was Gypsies and Jews rather than Moslems who were the
targets of the impotent wrath of the continent's little men with broken
ambitions and dead dreams. The truth is we DO face a tide of evil that
will wash over Europe, but it is not Islam or Communism or any other
kind of ideology that is threatening to destroy us. It is a tide of apathy.
An anything goes marketplace where immorality raises no eyebrows
and violence can sell motorcars. We in the Fatsoens Partij hope to
stand against this rising tide and build the dykes that will keep us safe,
all of us whatever our religions, our sexualities, our races, our
ambitions, anything that we use to divide us. That is why we need to
educate our youth and arm them against the idea that nothing matters.
It does matter. Decency matters.
Four members stand up and walk out of the chamber but others applaud.
CUT TO:
INT. BAR OF THE ROSE AND CROWN - NIGHT
PETER
Oh. Oh shit. And is she a big name politician?
LIAM
She's the one standing up to the Gerd Wilders's of this world.
PETER
And Daniel's obsessed with her. There are some sketches that can
only be considered pornographic.
ALARIC
So there's the answer. Maybe the devil wants to bring her down in
some way.
PETER
So we can leave those ones out maybe.
ALARIC
Worth a try I guess.
INT. THE MONGOL GALLERY - DAY
Peter is alone in the gallery, putting the finishing touches to the latest exhibition. a PHOTOGRAPHER and WEB DESIGNER knock on the door.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Are you ready for us Mr Elsingham?
PETER
Hmm? Oh yes. I think I have the layouts right. They give a sample of
Daniel's work that shows off the brush strokes and the simple, magical
lyricism of his painting.
WEB DESIGNER
You know. I think this is doable. We can use these screens as screens
online and let people walk through by clicking the sides. Yeah. It'll
make the site feel like a kind of labyrinth. Something like an
installation from the paintings.
PHOTOGRAPHER (begins to take photographs)
Right you are then. Let's have at it. Gonna be beautiful. You know, I
saw an exhibition like this in Holland or Belgium or maybe Hamburg.
Paintings by some dyke who loved cunt so much, she made it symbolic
in her work. The layout was only paintings and yet it felt like walking
into a womb. It's not the same experience here but Daniel's got the
same intensity.
PETER (sighs)
I don't know whether you're trying to wind me up but either way, let's
get on with it shall we?
INT. ALARIC'S BOOKSHOP - DAY
The Bookshop is a chaotic, overstocked second hand bookshop. It seems to specialise in science fiction, the occult and conspiracy theories. Alaric is at the counter. Daniel is drinking tea but keeps showing a sketch to Alaric.
ALARIC
You want to send her an email?
Daniel moans and bangs his head against a stack of books.
ALARIC
Duh! Sorry, you want ME to send her one. Won't she screen them?
Daniel taps the sketch. The camera wavers, focuses on the sketch then moves inside it.
INT. INSIDE THE SKETCH - DAY
Daniel is dressed in a stereotypical mime costume ala Marcel Marceau. He steps out of the screen of a laptop and into the place where Anna is, a bedroom perhaps. He is attempting through mime to make Anna understand his frustration but she understands nothing. Daniel gets down on his knees and offers up to her first a bunch of red roses and then a small gold ring with a solitaire diamond of the finest water.
ANNA
Idiot Daniel. You were not supposed to let me go.
Daniel frowns and stops miming. He looks lost. Tearful.
ANNA
We broke up and then spent the next what, six hours together? Didn't
that give you a clue? Godverdomme mongoolkoenig! You were
supposed to ... oh I don't know what you were supposed to do but
running off to England with your tail between your legs, that was
definitely not it.
ANNA
You've lost it, idiot.
ALARIC (Voice over)
That is not Anna speaking Daniel. It is your fears.
DANIEL
Is it?
CUT TO:
INT. Alaric's shop.
ALARIC
Alright. I'll do it.
Alaric lifts his laptop from its place under the counter and opens it up. He begins to type and as he does so, the words float up from the laptop, appear on the screen briefly and then float off as if they were made of smoke.
ALARIC (typing)
Dear Mevrouw Kern. My name is Alaric Hanworth. I am the
proprietor of a bookshop in London. You don't know me, but we have
a mutual acquaintance. His name is Daniel Jekyll and I believe you
were important to him.
Daniel looks over Alaric's shoulder as he types.
ALARIC
I think you're right. The sooner you and she can get back together,
the sooner I can persuade Peter to abandon this lunatic scheme of his.
ALARIC (typing again)
I'm afraid that something terrible has happened to Daniel. He is
unable to speak or type and so has asked me to do so. He needs you.
He needs you very much.
ALARIC
Don't you think that sounds a bit needy?
Daniel frowns and then nods.
ALARIC
Okay then let's change it.
ALARIC (Typing)
I hope that you will agree to meet me, preferably in London to discuss
Daniel's well-being. He has suffered some kind of breakdown and his
doctor has suggested that you may be able to help.
ALARIC
Better?
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