A Wind-Up By D Caudle
Based on a scene in Luis Bunuel’s The Phantom of Liberty
1st draft June 22, 2013
INT. CLASSROOM -
DAY
A little wooden pig and a little wooden cow figurine rotate around a mirrored, square shaped platform. Lullaby music accompanies the dancing figurines. MR CANDLE (40), his face dominated by a scruffy beard and large black glasses, sits at his desk wistfully watching the wooden music box before him. KNOCK KNOCK. Mr Candle looks toward the door. He opens a drawer and shoves the music box inside, then shuts the drawer, the lullaby still dimly audible. He opens an exercise book, taken from a nearby stack, and begins ticking furiously with a red pen. CANDLE (clears throat, calls out) Come in. MISS TENUCCHI (mid 20s), smart professional dress style, enters. She keeps one arm behind her back, as if she is hiding something. TENUCCHI Are you busy? Mr Candle gestures to the stack of exercise books and shrugs his shoulders. CANDLE It never slows down, does it? Miss Tenucchi draws near. TENUCCHI This won’t take a minute. (then) It’s just I’m still sort of new at this job, and I thought . . . Well, I thought you might know what to do. Mr Candle puts down his pen. CANDLE (intrigued) What is it? TENUCCHI I’ve had to confiscate some pictures I caught Sara Kelly (MORE) (CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
2.
TENUCCHI (cont’d) passing around in the Year 10 playground. (then) They weren’t nice pictures. In fact I’d call them rather disturbing. CANDLE Do you still have the pictures? TENUCCHI Yes. CANDLE Can I see them? Miss Tenucchi, taking her arm out from behind her, holds up a collection of four or five 4x6 prints. She hands them to Mr Candle and takes a seat next to him. Inching together they inspect the photos one by one. Mr Candle’s eyes widen in alarm in reaction to the 1st photo. The second one causes him to grimace in worry. He turns to Miss Tenucchi. CANDLE Did she say where she got these? TENUCCHI (shaking her head) She’s in my room now and she won’t say a word. CANDLE Tch tch tch. He shakes his head and continues shuffling through the pictures. ANGLE ON PHOTOS They are all pictures of different happy families. Each family, despite whatever differences in setting or activity, are stereotypically perfect looking. Perfect teeth, fair skin, and fixed grins. ANGLE ON MISS TENUCCHI’S HAND as she points at a picture of a happy family building a sand castle on the beach.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
3. TENUCCHI (O.S.) That’s really sick, you know.
BACK TO SCENE Mr Candle places the pictures face down on the desk and shivers slightly. TENUCCHI What should I do? CANDLE Look this goes beyond anything you and I can do. We’ll have to refer Sara to the Head, and they’ll obviously have to bring her parents in for an urgent meeting. TENUCCHI Do you think they’ll have to call in the school psychologist? CANDLE Well the girl is clearly disturbed. Where do you think she got this stuff? TENUCCHI You can get anything on the internet these days. Miss Tenucchi stands taking the pictures from the desk. TENUCCHI (CONT’D) Well thanks for the advice. I better go get Sara and escort her down to Mrs. Rickshaw’s office. She heads for the door. CANDLE Want me to go with you? TENUCCHI No please I’ve bothered you enough. Thanks. Candle smiles and nods as she leaves the room. As soon as the door is closed, he immediately opens his desk drawer and extracts his music box. He winds it eagerly. The lullaby music commences and he places the toy in front of him. He goes back to his reverie. FADE OUT