her head.
No. They never do.You’re not in the family way, are you? Because that’s happened before.
JENNY shakes her head.
Thank God for that.
JENNY turns and walks away from the house.
( calling after her )
No, no.You stay here.
But JENNY heads off down the street.
92 INTERIOR: JENNY’S HOUSE - DAY
MARJORIE and JACK are in the kitchen. MARJORIE is smoking. Normal life has clearly been suspended during this crisis. JENNY comes in the front door and they both rush to the hallway.
MARJORIE
Did you see her?
JENNY
Yes, I saw her. I didn’t talk to her. There wasn’t any need.
JACK
We have to have this out. Well, if you won’t do it, I will. I’m still your father.
He grabs his coat.
JENNY
You’re my father again, are you? What were you when you encouraged me to throw my life away? Silly schoolgirls are always getting seduced by glamorous older men. But what about you two?
JENNY, exasperated, disappears upstairs, leaving JACK and MARJORIE not knowing what to say.
JACK storms into the sitting room and slams the door, leaving MARJORIE alone in the hall.
93 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIG HT
JACK stands outside JENNY’S bedroom door with a cup of tea. He knocks tentatively.
94 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Close-up of the floaty print dress that HELEN gave her. The dress is suddenly jerked out of shot, and we pull back to reveal a weeping JENNY stuffing it into an already full box of things she is throwing out.The contents represent her now-despised, DAVID -created adult self.We can see Juliette Greco albums, photos, expensive-looking jewellery boxes. She continues to stuff things into the box.There’s a knock on the door.
JACK ( out of sight )
Jenny.
She continues to put her DAVID -life away into bags. She ignores him.
95 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIGHT
JACK is almost in tears.
JACK
Jenny. I’m sorry.
No answer.
I know I’ve made a mess of everything.
He waits for an answer - nothing.
All my life I’ve been scared, and I didn’t want you to be scared. That’s why I wanted you to go to Oxford. And then along came David, and he knew famous writers, he knew how to get to classical music concerts. But he wasn’t who he said he was. He wasn’t who you said he was, either.
96 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY is sitting on the bed, a tear rolls down her cheek and she closes her eyes.
97 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIG HT
JACK
The other day, your mother and I were listening to a programme about C. S. Lewis on the radio, and they said he’d moved to Cambridge in 1954. I said, Well, they’ve got that wrong. Our Jenny wouldn’t have his name in her book . . . if he’d moved to Cambridge.
98 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY’S face crumples. She knows he’s right.
99 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIGHT
JACK
There’s a cup of tea and some biscuits out here.
He puts them down on the floor outside her door.
100 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY puts her head in her hands and sobs.
101 INTERIOR: HEADMISTRESS’S OFFICE - DAY
JENNY has dressed soberly in clothes not unlike a school uniform for this meeting: it completes a circle. She’s back where she started from, or would like to be, anyway. If she seems older than she did when we first met her, it’s because things have happened to her, and they’ve left a mark on her face. She’s worried and tired.The HEADMISTRESS, meanwhile, is delighted by her return - but only because of the opportunities for smugness and schadenfreude it provides.
HEADMISTRESS
How do you think we can help?
JENNY
I want to repeat my last year at school and take my exams.
HEADMISTRESS
I got the impression the last time we spoke that you didn’t see the point of school. Or of me, or of any of us here.
JENNY
I know. I was stupid . . . The life I want - there’s no shortcut. I know now that I need to go to university.
HEADMISTRESS
It gives me absolutely no pleasure whatsoever to see our schoolgirls
No. They never do.You’re not in the family way, are you? Because that’s happened before.
JENNY shakes her head.
Thank God for that.
JENNY turns and walks away from the house.
( calling after her )
No, no.You stay here.
But JENNY heads off down the street.
92 INTERIOR: JENNY’S HOUSE - DAY
MARJORIE and JACK are in the kitchen. MARJORIE is smoking. Normal life has clearly been suspended during this crisis. JENNY comes in the front door and they both rush to the hallway.
MARJORIE
Did you see her?
JENNY
Yes, I saw her. I didn’t talk to her. There wasn’t any need.
JACK
We have to have this out. Well, if you won’t do it, I will. I’m still your father.
He grabs his coat.
JENNY
You’re my father again, are you? What were you when you encouraged me to throw my life away? Silly schoolgirls are always getting seduced by glamorous older men. But what about you two?
JENNY, exasperated, disappears upstairs, leaving JACK and MARJORIE not knowing what to say.
JACK storms into the sitting room and slams the door, leaving MARJORIE alone in the hall.
93 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIG HT
JACK stands outside JENNY’S bedroom door with a cup of tea. He knocks tentatively.
94 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Close-up of the floaty print dress that HELEN gave her. The dress is suddenly jerked out of shot, and we pull back to reveal a weeping JENNY stuffing it into an already full box of things she is throwing out.The contents represent her now-despised, DAVID -created adult self.We can see Juliette Greco albums, photos, expensive-looking jewellery boxes. She continues to stuff things into the box.There’s a knock on the door.
JACK ( out of sight )
Jenny.
She continues to put her DAVID -life away into bags. She ignores him.
95 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIGHT
JACK is almost in tears.
JACK
Jenny. I’m sorry.
No answer.
I know I’ve made a mess of everything.
He waits for an answer - nothing.
All my life I’ve been scared, and I didn’t want you to be scared. That’s why I wanted you to go to Oxford. And then along came David, and he knew famous writers, he knew how to get to classical music concerts. But he wasn’t who he said he was. He wasn’t who you said he was, either.
96 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY is sitting on the bed, a tear rolls down her cheek and she closes her eyes.
97 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIG HT
JACK
The other day, your mother and I were listening to a programme about C. S. Lewis on the radio, and they said he’d moved to Cambridge in 1954. I said, Well, they’ve got that wrong. Our Jenny wouldn’t have his name in her book . . . if he’d moved to Cambridge.
98 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY’S face crumples. She knows he’s right.
99 INTERIOR: UPPER HALLWAY - NIGHT
JACK
There’s a cup of tea and some biscuits out here.
He puts them down on the floor outside her door.
100 INTERIOR: JENNY’S BEDROOM - NIGHT
JENNY puts her head in her hands and sobs.
101 INTERIOR: HEADMISTRESS’S OFFICE - DAY
JENNY has dressed soberly in clothes not unlike a school uniform for this meeting: it completes a circle. She’s back where she started from, or would like to be, anyway. If she seems older than she did when we first met her, it’s because things have happened to her, and they’ve left a mark on her face. She’s worried and tired.The HEADMISTRESS, meanwhile, is delighted by her return - but only because of the opportunities for smugness and schadenfreude it provides.
HEADMISTRESS
How do you think we can help?
JENNY
I want to repeat my last year at school and take my exams.
HEADMISTRESS
I got the impression the last time we spoke that you didn’t see the point of school. Or of me, or of any of us here.
JENNY
I know. I was stupid . . . The life I want - there’s no shortcut. I know now that I need to go to university.
HEADMISTRESS
It gives me absolutely no pleasure whatsoever to see our schoolgirls
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