Feet of the Angels (4 page)

ROMAIN MEETS MARIE

On the sound stage:

MARIE 2

“…Concerning existential angst in the representation of angels and the re-emergence of their feet in Renaissance art.”

ROMAIN

Um… could you repeat that?

MARIE 2

“…Concerning existential angst in the representation of angels and the re-emergence of their feet in Renaissance art.”

ROMAIN

Is that your title?

MARIE 2

Yes.

ROMAIN

Are thesis titles always that long?

MARIE 2

Most of the time they are. That's because they have to be exact.

ROMAIN

Not too saleable by the sound of it!

MARIE 2

No, not saleable.

ROMAIN

Apart from that what do you do?

MARIE 2

Um, nothing really. I do a little work as an extra… my sister's in the costume department… I use to teach hourly at the university, but I gave that up. I just couldn't handle it all…

ROMAIN

You taught painting?

MARIE 2

No, no, I can't paint!

ROMAIN

You don't paint.

MARIE 2

No.

ROMAIN

But you do like painting.

MARIE 2

Oh yes, to look at, in the hope it will transform me forever.

ROMAIN

But now you don't teach anymore?

MARIE 2

No.

ROMAIN

How come?

MARIE 2

I got someone to replace me. I… have trouble being in front of people. I just lose it. I can't say anything when lots of people are looking at me.

ROMAIN

So how do you earn a living? You just work as an extra… that's all?

MARIE 2

Well, I have a fellowship to work on my thesis, and besides, I don't need a lot of money…

ROMAIN

So all you do is write your thesis on the feet of the angels?

MARIE 2

Uh… that's right.

ROMAIN

And the government gives you money for that?

MARIE 2

Well, some.

ROMAIN

Not too tough, eh?

MARIE 2

Well, now, I wouldn't say that… research is very demanding, you know, and all that…

ROMAIN

So that's all you do? Full-time, I mean?

MARIE 2

What do you mean by that?

ROMAIN

Oh nothing. It's interesting. I'm going for coffee. You want one?

He's on his way when she practically shouts to hold him back:

MARIE 2

…I'm taking salsa classes as well!

ROMAIN

Oh, yeah, really?

MARIE 2

Uh-huh!

ROMAIN

Wow!

MARIE 2

And I love it!

ROMAIN

I bet you're really good at it.

MARIE 2

Oh, I've just started… but I'm really passionate about it.

ROMAIN

Oh yes?

MARIE 2

Yes! Dance is really about… joy… isn't it? Beauty and joy in living, at least, that's how I see it. I just love dance. It's so… wow! Not that I'm desperate or anything, it's just… dance carries so much… uh… plenitude. What about you?

ROMAIN

Dancing?

MARIE 2

No, I mean… oh, so you dance too? I just thought… gosh everyone dances, I suppose, don't they?… but what I meant was, you didn't tell me what you do in life, apart from dancing, that is… I mean, it's not like you
have
to be doing something, right, I mean sometimes we don't just
do
anything
. I was just asking; you don't have to answer, of course. It might be personal. Maybe you're even a dancer!

ROMAIN

Oh, no, no, that is, I have some dance training because I'm a performer, I'm an actor… it's dumb really. I still have trouble saying it, actually
presenting myself as one thing or another
, because I've just finished school, and I haven't worked that much… just as an extra, so I can't really present myself as one thing or another till someone else does, know what I mean?

They are joined by a group of other extras, squeezed together, hot and worn out.

Someone yells “Action!” and the
SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
makes a
sweeping gesture; then the extras all laugh and applaud.

SECOND AD

Attention, please! Okay, is it okay for everybody if I speak English? Just raise your hand if you don't understand,
lève ta main si tu comprends pas
.

MARIE
is the only one. He heaves a sigh.

Shit. Okay.
J'vais te le dire après
. Okay, guys, quiet please! I'll tell you how this is gonna work. When the director says “action,” you don't do anything, okay? Hamlet will walk a little bit. Then, when I go like this
(
He shows them.
)
, all you ghosts, all of you, you start laughing, and clapping, all right? Well, not everybody will be clapping.
(
points to some extras
)
You, you, you, you, you and you—you'll clap. The others just laugh. Quiet! We're already late! I know you've been waiting around a lot, and if we do good, we'll break for lunch pretty soon, okay? So just stand here and wait.

MARIE 1

Excusez-moi…

SECOND AD

Quoi?

MARIE 1

Je… j'ai pas bien compris ce qu'il faut faire.

SECOND AD

When they laugh, you laugh.

MARIE 1

…

SECOND AD

Ça marche?

MARIE 1

Oui oui, parfait. Merci.

second
assistant director
gets a call on his cell.

ROMAIN
has been listening.

ROMAIN

You want me to translate as we go along?

MARIE 1

Oh, yes please. That would be really nice, I don't understand any of it.

second
assistant director
comes back and the two
MARIE
s change places:
MARIE
1 works on her thesis, while
MARIE
2 is on the sound stage.

SECOND AD

Are you Marie?

MARIE 2

Huh… yes.

SECOND AD

Okay I may have an upgrade for you. Are you interested?

MARIE 2

What is that?

SECOND AD

Well, you'll be making a thousand bucks instead of a hundred and twenty.

MARIE 2

What for?

SECOND AD

Well, instead of hanging with the other ghosts, you'll have a real part, no lines though.

MARIE 2

We're supposed to be ghosts?

SECOND AD

That's right, phantoms.

MARIE 2

Oh, I didn't realize that.

SECOND AD

Okay, so do you want to do it?

ROMAIN

Of course she does!

(
to
MARIE
)
Don't you?

MARIE 2

Oh, uh, yes, sure… but why me?

SECOND AD

Look, just sign here, then go to makeup and hair, and hurry up. We're late.

the CHOIR
latches onto
MARIE
2 and gets her ready.

MARIE 1

That's when I thought to myself, to be loved that much without having anything special, maybe I was terribly ill, incurable, not long for this earth, and they hadn't told me so I wouldn't live in fear of dying. That was the only explanation I could think of. There was no way I deserved it, so I must be about to die!

From that day on, I was constantly afraid this was going to be it: I wasn't just mortal—I was marked by death. So I kept close watch on myself. That way maybe I could get the jump on death instead of the other way around. It got so I was obsessed by my slow demise, and to me time was indelibly linked to the deepest anxiety. I was steeped in melancholy.

CHOIR D

(
getting
MARIE
ready
)

1.
Talk about lucky!

2.
She's going to be Hamlet's feminine side.

3.
This is some adaptation.

4.
Hamlet has a feminine side?

5.
Yikes! You mean like Cate Blanchett in the film about Bob Dylan!

6.
Except Cate Blanchett spoke. She won't.

7.
Nope, no lines for her.

MARIE 2

Qu'est-ce que je dois faire?

SECOND AD

You just walk beside Hamlet.

ROMAIN

Tu marches à côté d'Hamlet!

SECOND AD

You are his feminine side; it is very modern.

ROMAIN

Tu es son côté féminin; c'est très moderne.

CHOIR D

8.
That kind of break can happen to anyone when they're an extra.

9.
Almost happened to me once, but I was too big.

10
. A Woody Allen movie.

11
. I was too big though.

12
. I once had a line with Angelina Jolie. Had to answer her about something, but that scene got cut.

13
. That's kind of like what happened to me. I wrote a novel, but then my apartment burned down, and I only had the one copy.

14
. Me too, the exact same thing!

15
. Yeah, me too!

16
. Damn manuscript fires.

MARIE 2

Est-ce que je dois marcher d'une façon spéciale?

SECOND AD

Just be connected to Hamlet's spleen.

ROMAIN

Branche-toi sur la mélancolie de Hamlet!

SECOND AD

He can translate for you.

ROMAIN

Je vais traduire!

CHOIR D

17
. He'll translate for her!

We hear “Action!” and
MARIE
1 walks side by side with Hamlet.

HAMLET

…To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action. —Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remember'd.

ROMAIN

(
translated for her as they go along
)
…Mourir, dormir; dormir: peut-être rêver. Oui, là est l'embarras. Quels rêves peuvent émerger quand nous sommes débarrassés de notre enveloppe mortelle? C'est ce qui nous arrête. D'où vient ce respect que nous accordons à cette longue vie qui n'est que calamité?

Qui voudrait supporter les flagellations et les dédains du monde, l'injure de l'oppresseur, l'humiliation de la pauvreté, les angoisses de l'amour méprisé, les lenteurs de la loi, l'insolence du pouvoir et l'injustice de l'imposture, si on pouvait en finir avec un simple poignard?

Qui voudrait porter ces fardeaux, grogner et suer sous une vie accablante, si la crainte de quelque chose après la mort, de cette région inexplorée d'où nul voyageur ne revient, ne troublait la volonté, et ne nous faisait supporter nos souffrances par peur de souffrir celles que nous ne connaissons pas? Ainsi, la conscience fait de nous tous des lâches; ainsi les lueurs de la résolution blêmissent sous les pâles reflets de la pensée; ainsi les entreprises les plus énergiques et les plus importantes se détournent de leur cours, à cette idée, et perdent le nom d'action… Doucement, maintenant! Voici la belle Ophélia… Nymphe, dans tes oraisons, souviens-toi de tous mes péchés.

SECOND
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
makes a sweeping gesture, and the other extras laugh and clap.