Reel

( shot in 3D and black & white )

( John Lee Hooker’s, Blues Before Sunrise, winds softly through till final wipe )

( close up )

Her beautiful face, as she snores like an old man.

( quick cut )

She lies in a bathtub fingering herself. The water bubbles up. She can hear her husband walking in the hallway. And she can hear her children asking for Cheerios.

( slow dislove )

In the middle of the room she leans over the table with a straw up her nose. Does 2 long lines in record time. She smiles at Mary. Mary’s husband works at the Shell station. He has no idea, and won’t be home for several hours.

( fade )

Her mother, an invalid, in a wheelchair, writing a check on a Sears catalog.

( cut to her daughter )

She is slamming a screeen door over and over again, screaming at her husband.

“ You fucking asshole, you dirty son-of-a-bitch. Fuck you!. Fuck you, I hate your fucking guts, you fucking piece of shit.”

The screendoor falls off its hinges.  Her husband is sitting in an old rocking chair just inside the broken door, rocking their 2 year old son, who is crying.

“Your mother loves you, “ he whispers several times.

( cut to flashback )

A car is weaving in and out of the California mountains. It jolts to a stop on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean.

( zoom to close up )

She is smashing her head on the steering wheel, crying and laughing hysterically.

( slow fade )

Amazed that a plant is living in her house.

“Look,” she tells her husband, “this spider plant is actaully still alive.”

( close up of plant )

( wipe )

( slow fade in )

Her mother in her wheelchair sitting in front of a muted big screen TV, shaking and crying, tears flooding down her cheeks. She tighens the dirty grey blanket she has wrapped around herself. A male nurse leans over her.

“Can I get anything for you, Mrs. Bergman? Is there something I can do?
Mrs. Bergman, Mrs. Bergman …?”

( slow fade to her daughter in her car on the cliff )

( zoom to close up of her face, her breakdown )

( wipe )