SCENE 1.
BEDROOM. INSIDE/DAY
We see an alarm clock light up the darkness. It is 7:00
a.m., a sharp alarm dominates the scene. A finger condemns
the button into silence. A pair of sleep filled eyes appear
at the forefront, a hand turns on a lamp resting on the
room’s bedside table. Finally, we can make out Laura’s
face, yawning so wide that her jaw almost dislocates. Her
face shows the sights sleep deprivation. We observe how her
feet slide into a pair of slippers. The bedroom is a
disaster zone: Clothes are strewn all around and there are
three ashtrays full of cigarette butts (lighters!!). The
first thing that Laura does it to grab a cigarette, light
it and start to smoke. The air begins to fill with smoke.
Laura leaves the room, heading for the bathroom.
SCENE
2. BATHROOM. INSIDE/DAY
Laura is in
the bathroom already full of smoke as she finishes smoking.
We can see an old cigarette butt resting on the sink.
Cleaning the mirror with a hand, Laura starts to look at
her tired face. A sudden coughing attack grips her, which
is so strong that she spits blood onto the mirror. She
quickly cleans it with her hand and a little water and her
face shows a deep bitterness. She begins to breathe
strongly and slowly; she finds it difficult to breathe
correctly. In spite of this, she picks up the cigarette
butt from the sink, lights it and starts to smoke. A smirk
of satisfaction draws across her face. She opens the door
and heads for the bedroom.
SCENE 3.
BEDROOM. INSIDE/DAY
Laura
opens her bedroom door, but when she enters the room, her
mother is there, tidying up the piles of clothes on the
floor and picking up the ashtrays. She's smoking a
cigarette.
LAURA
What the hell are
you doing in my room? Haven't I told you never to come in
here?
MOTHER
I'm
just trying to clean this shit up! As long as you live in
my house, you'll do as I say. To start with, you can give
up smoking. Haven't the doctors told you what could happen
to you if you carry on like that? Don't you remember what
happened to your father?
LAURA
Look, none of
that is going to happen to me. I'll decide how much to
smoke, OK? And why are you
smoking?
MADRE
It's your
body, not mine.
Her mother
throws the pile of clothes and the cigarette butts onto
Laura's bed (and leaves the room).
LAURA
Fuck
off!
She opens a
drawer and places her hand inside almost automatically. It
is empty. Laura blasphemes.
Then
she reaches for a cigarette butt on the floor, she lights
it and begins to smoke.
SCENE 4.
LIVING ROOM. INSIDE/DAY
Laura is in
the living room sitting at the piano. A steaming cup of
coffee rests on the upper part of the piano. She tries to
play something but can't, because her hands start to
tremble after a few seconds.
(We see her
mother leave the house)
When
her mother has gone, Laura crouches down to take out a
cigarette packet she had hidden under the sofa.
She stretches her hand right out under the sofa and grasps
the packet and when she starts to light a cigarette, she
hears the sound of the television switching itself on.
Laura turns round and sees the television full of snow and
interferance.
(Laura is surprised)
LAURA
Fucking
telly! Shut up!
When she
presses the power button, the television won't turn off.
Laura can hardly believe her eyes. Then she unplugs the
television, but it remains switched on. Laura sits down on
the sofa, shocked. He hear an imposing (and metallic) voice
coming from the television.
TELEVISION
What
the hell were you looking for under the sofa? Your ruin? I
think you're very stupid, you know? Perhaps you want to
follow in your father's footsteps? Listen to
me.
LAURA
Who the fuck are
you?
TELEVISION
Look at me, will
you? You're useless, Laura. Your life has gone to hell and
all because of that disgusting habit. You know what I'm
talking about, don't you?
Laura
is very nervous.
TELEVISION
Stupid!
I'm a product of your mind, your craziness, your sin, of
your miserable thoughts. Maybe you can't see that you're
about to die? Don't you realise that a couple of cigarettes
could kill you? Have you no brain? Speak!
LAURA
What
are you talking about! What do you mean I'm going to die?
Tell me what I have to do!
TELEVISION
Now
you can see the wolf's ears, can't you (no tiene ningun
sentidio en inglés - dime el significado de la expresion en
espagnol) Ahora comienzas a ver las orejas al lobo. Look,
all you have to do is not touch a cigarette the whole day.
It all depends on you and you know it.
Laura says
trembling:
LAURA
Is it
true?
TELEVISION
Yes,
and now that you know it, don't touch a single fag the
whole day. Just one more will be the end of you. You have a
very serious lung disease. Haven't you ever listened to
your doctor? How many times has your mother told you to
give up smoking? What will it take for you to realise?
Laura
sits on the sofa with a pale face. She can hardly believe
what is happening. The television switches itself off.
SCENE
5. BEDROOM/LIVING ROOM . INSIDE/DAY
(DESENLACE/1998)
Laura is in
her bedroom looking at all the clothes thrown around the
room and the cigarette butts on the floor. She is
aprehensive. A worried look is engraved on her face and the
voice on the television won't leave her head. (She looks at
the photos).
TELEVISION
(OFF)
One more will
be the end of you
LAURA
Fucking
television and fucking tabacco!
She wants to
know what time it is, but she can't find her watch
anywhere. She approached the wardrobe and finds it in one
of the drawers. Laura looks at the watch strangely, because
it has stopped and none of the hands are moving. She hits
it, but it still won't work. In the same drawer, as if by
magic, she finds a new packet of cigarettes. She quickly
opens it and takes out a cigarette. She is smiling
maliciously. With the cigarette in her mouth, Laura starts
to draw on it strongly. The room fills with too much smoke.
Laura is surprised. Her throat irritates her a lot and she
begins to lose her breath. She falls to her knees bruskly
holding her stomach and gets up almost instantaneously,
recovered. The smoke disappears from the room.
A loud
noise comes from the living room and some voices can be
heard in the background. Laura opens the door and runs to
the living room. When she gets there, the television is in
it's place. She recognises one of the voices as her
mother's.
LAURA
(off)
What's going
on?
Laura is
perturbed (aturdida?). She sees her mother in the living
room with a man next to her who is trying to console her as
best he can. He looks like a doctor. Her mother has her
hands on her head. Laura realises that nobody can see her.
Laura
Mum,
mum
Nobody
replies. When Laura nears the sofa, she recognises the
man's face - it is her own. At this point, Laura can't
breath and she can hardly believe what she is seeing. She
starts to cough so strongly that she is unable to breathe.
At this moment, we see Laura fall to the ground (black
screen).
There is a change in space and time and we see Laura in a
hospital bed.
SCENE 6
INSIDE/DAY/HOSPITAL
Laura
grasps her own body and kneels down.
Meanwhile, a doctor enters the room who cannot see her
either and looking at the mirror (relatório?) he can see
that Laura is about to wake up. We can see the doctor
calling on his mobile phone. The following words can be
heard:
DOCTOR
She's
woken up.
DOCTOR
Nurse?
At this
point, there is a ?travelling? (ni idea - esta en inglés?
termino de cine?) towards Laura who is in the bed and we
pass to another time.
SCENE 7.
LIVING ROOM. INSIDE/DAY
Laura is
sitting on the sofa. Her face is happy. She doesn't know
why. She's looking of a photo of herself as a child with
her parents. She can make out that both her mother and
father are holding a cigarette. Laura puts the photo in a
drawer and heads for the window. She opens it. The last
thing we see is the back of Laura looking out of the window
with a fine thread of smoke originating from close to
her...
THE
END