The following script is for a short film that was made in 2016. Film is available to view on YouTube.
MADWOMAN
TEXT ON SCREEN:
APRIL 20. 2077. 3:00PM
INT. EVALUATION ROOM – DAY
We are a bright white room. Three men, DOCTORS A, B and C, sit behind a table, which is bare but for their iPad devices. Across from them sits a woman, PATIENT 13, wearing hospital-type whites or pajamas. She stares at the men neutrally, almost expressionless.
DR.A
Good afternoon, Patient 13. I am Dr. A. These are my colleagues Dr. B and Dr. C.
Doctors B and C nod curtly.
DR.A
Do you know why you are here?
13 remains silent.
DR.A
You must answer the question, 13. You must answer all questions put to you. Failure will result in a 50point reduction in your viable economic credit rating. Do you understand?
13 remains silent.
DR.A
(Sighing)
Continued refusal to cooperate will incur 15point reductions in the VECs of your offspring. So, assuming you do not wish any stubbornness on your part to cause unnecessary financial harm to your children, answer the question.
13
Yes.
DR.A
Be so kind as to elaborate.
13 remains silent.
DR.B
I believe my esteemed colleague made it quite clear, Patient th…
13
(Turning to Dr.B)
He didn’t ask a question.
DR.B
(Seemingly appalled by such backchat)
Economic penalties apply to any lack of compliance.
DR.C
Her attitude does not bode well.
DR.A
Indeed it does not, Dr. C.
(Pause)
Tell us why you are here, please, 13.
13
(Sighing before quoting robotically)
“This is a government-approved psych-evaluation to determine relative fitness for reincorporation into functioning society.”
DRS B and C nod approvingly.
DR.A
And why would you particularly, 13, be in need of such an evaluation?
13
(Betraying a glimmer of annoyance)
I didn’t know my place.
DR.C
Pardon?
DR.B
Patient 13 was diagnosed with cognitive dislocation. She speaks of it in the colloquial.
DR.C
I see… colloquial speech. An indication of emotional volatility, perhaps?
DR.A
No, I don’t think so Dr. C. Linguistic dissonance, remember, is also a simple characteristic of 13’s gender-type. Now…
(He consults his I-Pad)
Details…
(Pause)
Ah yes. Patient 13 has on three separate occasions – twice in private and once publicly…
DR.C
So, persistently and repeatedly, then…
DR.A
Quite so, Dr. C. If I may continue?
DR.C nods, abashed…
DR.A
13 has, in contravention of State Law, intimated on three occasions that the female… should not necessarily be subservient to the male.
DR.B
(To 13, apparently unable to believe such an idea)
Do you not recognize the delusional nature of such an assertion?
13
It is not delusional.
DR.C
Patient 13, the genetic superiority of the male has long been an established biological fact.
13
I don’t believe it. I think men just made it up one day… so they could control us.
DRS A, B and C reel back in shock.
DR.C
You don’t believe it?
DR.A
Why on Earth do you think we would need to make it up, 13?
13
Because you are scared of us. Or you were…
DR.B
Such a supposition is inherently impossible, 13. The male is naturally dominant… therefore, logically, he is incapable of fearing anything that may be deemed inferior.
DR.A
The founders of our happy society sought only to protect you all from yourselves, 13, not control you. The female is famously in thrall to the chemical minefield of her hormones, incapable of true rational thought and reason.
DR.C
(In a supercilious manner)
And let us not forget that it is also established scientific fact, Patient 13, that dominance is a natural principal of evolution, a necessary factor in the survival of any species.
DR.A
In all cases, the female is subservient.
DR.B
(Patronizingly)
Not counting insects.
DR.A
Perhaps 13 would prefer it if we WERE insects.
13
(Tired and perplexed)
I don’t understand you.
The DOCTORS raise their collective eyebrows ironically.
13
(Looking up, more certain)
Or maybe I do, yes? And that’s the problem…
DR.A
And just what is it that you think you understand, eh, 13?
DR.B
Oh yes, please do share your insights into the male psyche…
DR.C
(Smirking)
Show your betters you know better…
13
That all-important dominance you keep talking about… it’s just… insecurity.
DR.A
Fascinating. Do go on…
13
You lash out at what you’re afraid of. You repress it. You’re like my children; you… you get some sort of sadistic pleasure from power… whether you deserve it or not!
DR.C
Must we put up with this incoherent drivel?
DR.A
Of course, if we are to understand the nature of 13’s psychosis…
DR.B
Surely we already understand its nature; it is female…
13
My God! You talk of logic and understanding but how can you understand anything when your minds are so… so… so narrow! All you believe is that might is right!
DR.A
Surely, that is the essence of survival, 13…
13
(Shouting in frustration)
You’re… you’re throwbacks!
DR.C
(Seemingly mortally offended)
Good lord!
13
What? Are you afraid we might take your toys away? Is that why you need to stomp on us, to legislate against our liberty, to decree what we may or may not access?
DR.A
Don’t you see, 13? It is exactly this kind of outburst that proves our point. You have loosened your grip on your sanity by succumbing to the skewed exigencies of your hormones.
DR.B
Quite so. This isn’t you talking, 13; it is a terrible chemical imbalance.
DR.C
You are enslaved to your body, 13. We can free you from that…
13
(Almost hysterical now)
Free me? FREE ME! What the… You lock us in our homes! We are monitored at all times! How is that FREE?
DR.A
It is the best freedom you can hope for, 13. Perhaps you see it as a cage, but if it is, it is a cage of love and protection. Better than the cage of self-loathing within which you imprison yourself…
13 stares at DR.A, unable to believe what she is hearing… uncomprehending of the madness that is her life.
13
(Her voice low)
We exist only to serve, to be good wives… wives to those who despise us.
DR.A
We don’t despise you, 13. We love you.
13
(To herself now)
We’re not even wives; we’re just nannies, our sole function to wash and feed the young.
DR.B
Ah, but that is where the fairer sex excel, where your natural instincts come to the fore…
13
(Looking at DR.A)
You have made us into vessels, glorified biological vats, good for nothing but carrying your children…
DR.A
That’s a rather bleak perspective, 13.
DR.B
I fear there is little we can do for her…
13
(Almost imploring)
What do you even need us for? You could just clone yourselves…
(Her voice becomes neutral once more)
But then where would you put your cocks when you’re bored with your hands?
DR.C
(Rocking back in his seat, gasping in shock)
She’s completely insane!
13
(Back to talking to herself)
Pointless. Pointless…
DR.A
Gentlemen?
DR.C
A clear case of the severest hormonal imbalance… chronic neurological disruption…
DR.B
Recommend full frontal lobotomy.
DR.A
Agreed.
13
(Looking back up at them all)
It can’t last, you know.
DR.A
(Pressing an intercom)
You may return Patient 13 to her cell…
13
There’ll be a revolution!
DR.A
And prepare her for surgery.
We hear a door opening and the soft approach of footsteps. 13 stands.
13
I can’t be the only one. I can’t…
13 turns at the sound of a door opening…
13
I can’t…
FADE*
END.
*If possible, before the fade, maybe a special effect with the camera zooming out to reveal a maze/grid of women in similar small cells to show that 13 is, indeed, far from alone and that the world WILL change again.
ALSO:
We can cut the sequence in the interview/examination room with one of 13’s instances of ‘transgression’ – I envisage a scene where we see 13 preparing a meal, aesthetically Mad Men/Good Wife fashion, in the kitchen for some guests (and maybe children too) and then laboriously bringing it to the table, finally making the seemingly innocuous remark that her husband might have lent a hand, a remark which causes everyone at the table to freeze in horror and for someone to drop a glass in utter disbelief…