Chained for Life

Line.

"She thinks she's fooling us

"with those sad, little eyes.

"But she's just like the others.

"Fear and pity.

"She'll betray us in the end.

"Her hair is not even really blonde."

...since the time of our earliest ancestors,

an innate and essentially human impulse.

This very quality is what separates man from beast.

It is a manifestation of our inherent desire

for order, for symmetry, for beauty.

That's it, that's it.

Oh, gentle.

Doctor! Sssh.

- (WOMAN SCREAMS) - Freda!

Are you injured?

I'll get Brutto.

No, no, you can go. I'll see to it myself.

- Let me speak with Freda alone. - But, the patient.

- Never mind that. - But, Doctor...

Thank you, Olga.

Yes, Doctor, I'll be waiting.

Freda, my dear. I warned you to stay in your quarters.

These patients have very serious diseases. They are highly contagious.

If anything ever were to happen to you...

- (GUN SHOT) - (BIRDS SQUAWKING)

That sounded like a real gun.

Is everyone okay? What happened?

Cut! Cut.

- (BUZZER SOUNDS) - I think there are hunters out there.

If anything ever were to happen to you,

I'd never forgive myself.

- My hero, Max. - Yeah, well.

- Excuse me, who's in charge here? - (LAUGHING) Not me.

- Who is? - Try Tetrallini.

No, this one is imperfect.

Yes, we will use this one.

- Excuse me. - No, out.

- Ma'am? - Yes, this one is perfect.

No, take this one away.

Ma'am, you need to move your trucks. They're blocking our driveway.

Who can I speak to about that? Who's in charge here?

Excuse me, who should I speak to about moving the trucks?

- You need to talk to Tetrallini about that. - I need you to move them right now.

- It's got an all-child cast. - I thought it was all dwarves.

All children are dwarves, Aristotle said that.

Your trucks are blocking our driveway. They need to move right now.

Excuse me, can you help me with this?

Zach?

- Just ask who you wanna ask... - Zach, Zach, Zach.

- ...but just make sure you... - Do the extras have dietary restrictions?

Thanks.

- I was told iceberg lettuce... - Tetrallini?

Oh, excuse me. Sorry. Is this the camera you're shooting with?

- Yeah, crazy, right? - That's tiny.

Yeah, they just keep getting smaller and smaller, these days.

It's really all about the lens, though.

I could talk to you about that if you want.

- Sarah Wagner! - Yeah.

- I'm Joan Beckett. - Hi.

- I'm here to interview Mabel. - Tetrallini?

Oh, great to meet you.

- Are you Tetrallini? - We just talked about that.

- Have you seen Mabel? - No, you could talk to Molly.

Okay, thank you. I'm a huge fan!

- Oh, thank you. - Tetrallini?

- "We wait in long line for loaf of bread." - Is Tetrallini a man or a woman?

I always wanted one, but it's such a serious commitment.

Marked for life.

How do you think of a symbol

that's completely unique to you

and perfectly expresses your individuality,

like a barcode or something?

My father says tattoos are an insult to God.

Now, how would the tattooed lady feel about that?

Is there gonna be a tattooed lady?

We'll find out tomorrow.

- Tomorrow. - (BANGING)

I wonder if there'll be a bearded lady. If not, I could play the part.

Oh God, me too.

You? I don't see anything suspicious.

Look, look.

No, that's like wispy silk down. I'm an ape woman.

- As you obviously know. - I've plucked much worse.

Who?

- (KNOCKING ON DOOR) - Code of silence.

Ah, I guess that's good. I can trust you.

Mabel, I wanted to introduce you to Ms Bechdel.

- Beckett, Joan Beckett. - Mabel.

- Nice to meet you. - Ms Beckett, I'm sorry.

- She's writing the article. - (HAMMER BANGING)

I'll talk to you at the hotel. I don't want to bother you now.

Oh, that's all right. We're just comparing facial hair.

I have you all beat.

I don't know. You have stiff competition.

- Molly, how's your beard? - Oh, electrolysis.

- Best eleven hundred bucks I ever spent. - Really? Eleven hundred?

They do that here, I think, in the other wing.

Female facial hair is making a comeback.

I doubt that.

- Do you regret it now, Molly? - No.

It's true. Armpit hair, short hair, Afros, eyeglasses.

These things go in phases.

- Scars are kind of a thing now. - Joaquin Phoenix.

Even small breasts had a brief moment in history.

I must've missed that one.

What about you, Michelle? You need any work done?

- No, she's perfect. - (MICHELLE SCOFFS)

Cut. Cut!

- (BUZZER SOUNDS) Try it again,

but moving away from the girl.

It'd be more effective as she becomes dwarfed

by these lonely sh...

Cut. Cut!

I guess so, um...

Although, I don't make those distinctions.

Well, there's always some distinction,

in the working conditions, for instance.

Okay, yeah, well, on a film like this, you kinda slum it.

But, um, I think that's part of the appeal.

Like, the beauty is that it's more challenging,

physically, mentally and, um,

also I'm just a huge fan of the director.

It's his first American film.

Yeah, but it still retains a kind of European sensibility,

which is one thing I love.

Um... And I don't get cast in the mega-movie things anyway, so...

I'm not the type.

You're being modest. You're very beautiful.

- Thank you, but... - Since we're on the topic,

there are some bold casting choices in this film.

I guess.

Do you have any reservations about it?

Reservations, like how?

Um, I don't know. Do you feel, for example,

this film might be considered exploitative?

You know, I think that's up to the director.

It's in the script. Have you read it?

No.

I think this is something he relates to.

He had very serious asthma, or something like that, as a child.

And so I think it's a very personal, like, sad tale.

And he said he grew up in the circus, but I think he exaggerates.

Playing a blind woman must be challenging.

Mm, but that's the job, right?

Acting is acting.

Like, um, Orson Welles, who's white, can play Othello, who's black, obviously.

But, then, he can also turn around and be, um, the other...

- Iago. - Iago, right, if he wanted.

Um, Daniel Day-Lewis, such a gifted actor, he can play, he played a hopeless cripple,

and then he turned around and played a great American president.

So...

That's a challenge.

But blindness, it's also not a totally foreign concept,

because, you know, blindness is an illness,

but it's also a metaphor, right.

We're all blind in certain ways.

We're, like, blind to our own best interests

or blind to the suffering of others.

And I think that blind people,

um, they feel shut,

they feel excluded from, yeah,

and I certainly relate to that.

I'm sure you do, too.

Sure.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow."

Well, that's from that, uh, it's from a musical, right?

- It's the little rich orphan kid. - What? No.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

"Creeps in this petty pace from day to day."

- Doesn't ring a bell, man. - Everybody knows this.

Are you sure it's not about a rich orphan?

Well, kind of.

- It's got an all-black cast. - American film?

Are you fucking kidding me? First, the tattoos,

then the mask is a week late...

I have a concern. Maybe I'm just not getting it.

One moment, Mabel.

Um, I was just thinking about the beauty of eyes,

or the measure of their beauty,

and it's not their shape.

- Can you tell by touching them? - What are you talking about?

- When she feels his face. - Who does, whose face?

- Freda touches Rosenthal's face. - And?

Well, can she tell by touching his face that he has beautiful eyes?

Why are you bringing this to me now?

Well, I was just thinking about it, and...

- It doesn't make sense. - Sure, it does.

But eyes are, like, moist, and I don't think he wants her poking...

She is not meant to be sticking her fingers into his eye socket.

Yeah, I know, I know. But, um... Aren't eyes, like, all the same shape?

I don't know that that's true.

And I don't see how you can just make a statement like that.

Can you touch a person's eyes and tell me if they're beautiful or...

Monstrous?

Me, maybe no, but I'm not a blind.

I don't read Braille. I don't have superhuman musical abilities.

But Freda...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.