Actors:
Frederick - Max von Sydow
Lee - Barbara Hershey
Script:
(get the full script here)
FREDERICK
(offscreen)
You're late.
Lee walks through the loft's living room area, unbelting her
coat, towards the bathroom. She passes Frederick, who sits
at a table in the kitchen area, drinking a cup of coffee and
reading the paper. A plate with a half-eaten sandwich sits
in front of him. The music stops.
LEE
(opening the bathroom door)
Lucy and I kept talking, and I
didn't realize how late it had
gotten.
FREDERICK
(barely glancing up
from his paper)
You missed a very dull TV show
about Auschwitz. More gruesome
film clips...and more puzzled
intellectuals declaring their
mystification over the systematic
murder of millions.
As he talks, Lee is seen turning on the bathroom light. She
takes off her coat, hanging it on a hook, then begins to dry
her hair with a towel.
FREDERICK
(turning his head
slightly in Lee's
direction and gesturing)
The reason why they could never
answer the question "How could it
possibly happen?" is that it's the
wrong question. Given what people
are, the question is
(swallowing)
"Why doesn't it happen more often?"
Of course it does, in subtler forms.
Frederick takes a bite of his sandwich and another sip of
coffee as Lee walks out of the bathroom, tossing the towel
down on the counter.
LEE
(moving her fingers
through her wet hair)
I have a little headache from this
weather.
She takes a kettle and fills it with water.
FREDERICK
(grunting, sipping
his coffee)
It's been ages since I sat in front
of the TV... just changing channels
to find something.
As Frederick continues his monologue, Lee is busy in the
background: striking a wooden match and lighting a burner on
the stove for the kettle, taking a glass out of the cupboard,
walking into the bathroom for some pills, filling the glass
with water in the kitchen sink, and taking her pills.
FREDERICK
You see the whole culture...Nazis,
deodorant salesman,
wrestlers...beauty contests, the
talk show... Can you imagine the
level of a mind that watches
wrestling?
(gesturing)
Hmm? But the worst are the
fundamentalist preachers...third-
rate con men, telling the poor
suckers that watch them that they
speak for Jesus...and to please
send in money.
(picking up his sandwich)
Money, money, money! If Jesus came
back, and saw what's going on in
his name, he'd never stop throwing
up.