LOST LINES (excerpt)

COMICS SCRIPT
(39 script pg. for 54 comics pg.)

COVER
Side shot. Behind Lucas. Fifty five year old Lucas sits mostly in shadow on his psychiatrist’s chair, his hands in a pondering triangle in front of his face. On the other side of the room, but quite nearby we have Lucas the boy, in the exact same pose, looking defiantly at his older self.

SYNOPSIS
The story of a kid that grows up to be a psychiatrist and that, as his own father falls ill, a latent psychosis develops. He discovers that all the fears he had as a child were actually true. How does the adult professional cope with the backlash of childhood?

CHARACTERS
Lucas (1943 – ) – the psychiatrist
Gustave (1924 – 2000) – Lucas father, the doctor
Françoise (1931 – 1971) – Lucas mother
Nurse – Gustave’s nurse
Doctor – Gustave’s doctor
Sarah – Lucas patient
Carrie – Lucas teenage patient
Johannes – the maddened farmer

NOTES
It’s important to show Lucas’ relationship with pills so that the end has a bit more meaning. For this matter we introduce the theme a few times. With his patients. And with his father, as he is forced to take pills and drugs due to his illness. But this can be a recurring visual theme.

PAGE 01
Abstractions
Close up on the back of the eyes, neural connections flying off into the darkness of the brain. Then a stage where the shadows creep into the light to torment a body crouching on the floor.

LUCAS
I can see behind their eyes
And all I can see is fear
And death

PAGE 02
Patients
2000. Down shot. Inside Lucas office. High ceiling. Lucas sits behind his desk as a woman talks to him on the other side of his desk. A small batch of pills casually placed amidst paperwork. The woman looks afraid and ill at ease. Lucas hand reaching out either for a box of tissues or the pack of pills?

LUCAS
I deal with abstractions
Names
Designations
Concepts
(Plato would be proud)
I provide solutions
Their doubts
Are my reassurance

Same POV. Now a man lies on his couch (underneath a window) and Lucas sits nearby him in the classic psychiatrists pose. They both look very exemplary in their portrayal of the psychiatrist and the heavy laden client roles.

LUCAS
The settings change

Same POV. Only now Lucas and another man sit almost face to face in the middle of the room. Lucas consoles the man.

LUCAS
But they are all the same

PAGE 03
Carrie
Same POV. Now Carrie, a teenage girl, sits holding her legs on the far end of the couch as Lucas listens from his chair near the other end. Lucas holds a box of pills in his hand.

LUCAS
Pills are now symbols
Of despair
Of weakness
The socially accepted refuge for those that cannot cope with their reality. Those in need of people like me and the professional harbour that we can provide
Our delusions are simply more elaborated
Disguised as truth

LUCAS
You’re here. You’re safe. Trust me.
Or not.
But you know you need to come out of this state you’re in. And rest. These are only to help. They’re temporary. When they’re no longer needed you won’t have to take them anymore, ok?

CARRIE
But I don't want it!

LUCAS
They’re a means to an end. You know you need greater stability in your life.
You need to stop your head going all the wrong ways. And this is going to do it for you. Get you where you want to be. Give you some rest and relaxation so you can rebuild and be who you want to be.

Mid shot. The girl takes the pills from Lucas extended hand. Cries, agitated.

LUCAS I'm here to help
Promise.
It’s going to be alright.

LUCAS
I just wish I could believe my words like they do.

Close up. Amid tears she throws her head back, throwing the pills into her mouth.

LUCAS
There are no cures
No chemical guarantees

Mid shot. She pulls away from Lucas and cries, avoids his gaze (he’s in shadow), curling up.

LUCAS
Only sufficient despair

PAGE 04
Childhood
1950. Establishing shot. A long table where Gustave (27, but looking much older with his moustache), Lucas (7) and Françoise (19, but also looking older in her almost Victorian attire) sit. Gustave at the top of the table. Françoise closer to him, on his right. Lucas further away on his left. This is a mansion. And this the breakfast room. A huge window gives out but its curtains are almost completely closed. A waiter takes away a domed tray, rigid in his posture. A Victorian look on everything, even though it’s 1950.

LUCAS
I'm sitting at the breakfast table. It’s a big house. My grandfather’s actually, family was important in those days
These are my parents
Everything is perfectly normal
Just another day

Next to Lucas. Long shot. The maid enters carrying a tray with tea, coffee, milk, juice, sugar, cream, honey, etc.

LUCAS
The maid comes in. Perfectly normal

Close up. Lucas POV. The maid pours some juice on Lucas glass.

LUCAS
Still, I feel scared
So scared

Same POV. Lucas hands parallel on the table as if waiting for something to happen.

LUCAS
I feel that I'm about to die today

Focus on the reflection of Gustave on Lucas water glass and the nearby jug of water.

LUCAS
I should get used to feeling this way. It’s ok to die. Just like sleeping only deeper. Without any bad dreams
Or at least you'll never have to wake up to find out

PAGE 05
Meal time
Down shot. Above Lucas. Completely aligned and sterile. Mechanical feel. They eat in silence.

LUCAS
It should be ok to die
I'm not even particularly interested in life

Besides Lucas as he looks over to his parents eating. Françoise casts her eyes down, afraid. Gustave reads the newspaper dismissively while drinking coffee.

LUCAS
They want me to live more than I do
Why?
Why is that important when they ignore me so?

Close up on Lucas mouth, bits of food stuck on the corner.

LUCAS
While I eat I picture my father strangling me because of the way I hold my fork
Because of the way I chew my food

Besides Gustave as he fiercely looks at Lucas. Lucas has his eyes cast down, fearful and ashamed. As if caught doing something wrong.

LUCAS
The way I avoid his eyes
Cold hungry eyes

PAGE 06
Poison & Acid
1951. Fantasizing. Lucas (8) POV. Françoise (20) looks straight at us. Lucas reaches out his hand as Françoise looks us in the eyes and drops some powder in the glass filled with juice that she offers him. She grins evilly.

LUCAS
My mother poisoning me because she's always saying I’ll never grow up. She’s saying I’m always up to no good

Close up. Francoise’s mouth grinning evilly.

LUCAS
That she’s sick of me

Mid shot. Inside bathtub. Lucas showers. The curtains closed around the bathtub

Full shot. Gustave (28) with a maddened expression throws a bucket of acid over Lucas that cowers in fear. The curtains fly to the side as if floating in mid air.

LUCAS
I see my father pouring acid over me while I shower in the old bathtub

Close up on the shower head, meting away as acid pours out, melting everything it touches, the curtains, the wall.

LUCAS
Sometimes it comes through the pipes

Lucas POV. He’s alone now. The curtains closed but melting, holes opening through them. Looks at his legs, his hand covers his penis, his body melts and steam rises from the heated flesh.

LUCAS
Steam rises as I melt. I’m crying but no one listens.
No one wants to.
I smell searing meat and acid

PAGE 07
Toast & Butter
1952. Close up. Gustave (29) butters a slice of toast.

LUCAS
Or using the butter knife

Close up. Gustave’s eyes as he looks fiercely at Lucas. Lucas avoids his eyes, on the edge of the panel.

LUCAS
Wanting my heart

Mid shot. Behind Gustave. He rises from his chair carrying the dirty butter knife.

LUCAS
Still filled with fat

Mid shot. Gustave now stands next to Lucas as Lucas begins to look up.

LUCAS
I’m far away from my body now

Lucas POV. Gustave’s face inflamed with rage.

LUCAS
Am I too this killer?

Mid shot. As Gustave grabs Lucas by the neck with one hand, with the other he carves the butter knife into Lucas heart.