TODAY'S NUGGET: The Grifters (1990) - One of the Very Best Solutions to a Problematic Introduction

[Quick Summary: A small time con man is torn between his high-stakes con mother and con girlfriend, who have their own interests.]

I'm always interested in how writers solve story problems.  This novel was one of those problematic adaptations.

According to screenwriter and novelist Donald E. Westlake, he turned it down at first, and director Stephen Frears asked him why. 

"It's too gloomy," Westlake said. Frears said it wasn't if you looked at it from the mother's point of view, which was about "the price of survival." 

Still, Westlake saw other pressing problems:

The problem is the mother comes into the story third. The son has to come first and the girlfriend has to come second....[H]ow are you going to tell the audience that the third character on board is the one you're supposed to watch? And he [Frears] said the thing that they always say sooner or later: "Well, you're the writer."

So I said, "Alright, give me a week, and if I can find a way to let the audience know that they should watch the mother, then ok, I'll do it. But then otherwise, not."  He said, "Alright."

And then six days later, I called him and said how about we open with a triptych, where we see the three characters entering their lives through three different doors and three different locations. And that way, at least we're on a level playing field for who's our main character, and let the audience work it out. And that's what we did. (bold mine)

Wow! What a genius solution!

So when you read this scene (below), pay attention:
1) that it's not about the techniques (split screens, wipes), but how they're used to convey meaning (these three characters are equally important).  

2) that this kind of cinematic language is crucial for film, i.e. things seen but unspoken and understood, but may be less important in other art forms. 

EXT. RUIDOSO DOWNS - DAY

...WIDE SHOT, track in b.g., as Lilly parks the Chrysler, gets out, locks the car. As she walks toward the track, WIPE RIGHT, as SCENE TWO WIPES IN from the left. SCENE ONE CAMERA FOLLOWS Lilly as she walks across the large parking area. SPLIT SCREEN.

SCENE TWO:

EXT. SIDE STREET - DAY

Downtown Los Angeles, near the courts and the business section. ROY DILLION, 25, handsome and charming but self indulgent, parks his orange Honda convertible, gets out, picks up a large ledger book from the back seat, goes around to open the trunk.

AN ANGLE on the trunk, establishing the tools of the salesman's trade: catalogs, samples, ledgers full of manuals and product sheets. Roy adds the ledger from the back seat, shuts the trunk, walks away.

EXT. 6th STREET - DAY

Roy walks around the corner near a bar/restaurant. As he approaches it, WIPE LEFT, the two half-width scenes contracting to one-third each as SCENE THREE WIPES IN from the right.

SCENE ONE: Lilly approaches the track's entrance doors.

SCENE TWO: Roy approaches the bar.

SCENE THREE:

EXT. SANTA MONICA BOULEVARD - DAY

A baby blue Cadillac parks in front of a jeweler.

AN ANGLE on the driver's door as MYRA LANGTRY, 36, beautiful in an impersonal calculating way, gets out, carrying a small jewelry case, and locks the car. At first glance, Myra looks rather like Lilly. (Myra always wears large dangly earrings, and usually wears big-lensed dark sunglasses.)

SIMULTANEOUSLY:

SCENE ONE: Lilly enters the track.

SCENE TWO: Roy enters the bar.

SCENE THREE: Myra enters the jeweler's.

WIPE RIGHT AND LEFT, as SCENE TWO takes FULL SCREEN.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:  So much of the writer's job is "if I can let the audience know..." without telling them.  

When I watched the film, I was truly impressed that I caught on so quickly, just with these visuals, and without being told.

The Grifters (1991)(2nd draft, March, 1989)
by Donald E. Westlake
Based on the novel by Jim Thompson

TODAY'S NUGGET: A Haunting in Venice (2023) - Unspoken Horror/Angst + Using a Swinging Door

[Quick Summary: A medium is murdered the night of an orphans' Halloween party. What did she know?]

I am going to tread lightly here, as I:
1) am an avid Agatha Christie fan (and admittedly a bit of snob),* and
2) have not been the biggest fan of the latest Kenneth Branagh remakes.**

This third film uses the book's setting of a Halloween party, but not the plot (the latter of which, in my opinion, is loosely adapted from another Christie novel). 

However, the script is well written and spooky. 

I particularly appreciated writer Michael Green's use of a swinging door that bodes ominous things (below). 

In this scene:
- Alicia and Maxine were engaged. He broke it off when her mother, Rowena, wouldn't approve.
- Maxine left. Alicia got sick and died.
- Years later, a medium now claims that she knows Alicia was murdered.
- After her Halloween party for orphans tonight, Rowena has agreed to hold a seance to contact Alicia.
- Maxine has returned to be a part of the seance.
- I felt the visual below captures the unspoken horror/angst between Rowena and Maxine, especially how she blames Maxine for Alicia's death, though he is innocent.
- The movement and rhythm of the door also increases the psychological horror, tension, and suspense between these two.  What's going to happen next?
- We are standing in Maxine's POV in the kitchen.

INT. KITCHEN/ PANTRY / DINING ROOM. PALAZZO. NIGHT.

A PANTRY DOOR SWINGS, OPEN / SHUT / OPEN, giving SWIPED views of ROWENA AND LEOPOLD. Inside eating cake at A SERVANTS' TABLE (by a PHONE). Rowena's gaze lasers up on the last swing, hate in her eyes. The door closes.

ON MAXINE. Feeling it. She was looking at him.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I thought the swinging door was an apt metaphor for this strained relationship, and wonderful way to amplify that strain.

A Haunting in Venice (2023)(undated)
by Michael Green
Adapted from the novel, Hallowe'en Party, by Agatha Christie

*For those who are curious: my favorite Poirot actor is David Suchet, and my favorite Miss Marple actor is Joan Hickson.

**This is the best of the three remakes.  My main issue with two prior remakes is that they spend a lot of Act 1 dwelling on Poirot as a person, establishing him with an ego, as the "most celebrated detective." I feel this: a) completely undercuts the joke, i.e., he's not as famous as he thinks he is; b) is distracting and unnecessary.  Mysteries are not really about the detective, per se.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Mona Lisa Smile (2003) - A Hard CUT TO: Transition That Works

[Quick Summary: When an art teacher arrives for a one year stint at Wellesley, an all women's university, she challenges her students to think differently.]

In my own scripts, I am often afraid the reader will not understand, so I over-explain with a lot of slug lines.

Thus, it was refreshing to see a script that uses the hard CUT TO: with very little explanation, and it is still clear what is happening.

Why does this work here? 

I think perhaps because there's still a unity of character.  Here, the CUT TO: is essentially a pivot for the viewer - same character, different setting.

For example, in the scene below:
- Katherine is showing her first art class slides and debating what is good art.
- This is followed by a hard CUT TO: Katherine considering a room for rent.
- Note the unbroken flow from professional Katherine to private Katherine.
- Note also that the writers understand how to translate cinematic language on the screen versus written language on the page. ON THE SCREEN: Nancy speaks --> we see the room.  ON THE PAGE:  CUT TO: -->  Nancy's line  --> "pull back to" --> the slug line. 

INT. CLASSROOM (CONTINUOUS)

...CLICK! She startles them with ANOTHER SLIDE. A STUNNING, HANDSOME MAN WITH LONG GOLDEN RINGLETS.

KATHERINE (CONT'D): Albrecht Durer, Self-Portrait, late fiftheenth century.

JOAN: Where does this fit in?

KATHERINE: It doesn't. He's so dreamy I just like to look at him.

And the girls burst out laughing led by Giselle. Katherine is thrilled. Betty is fuming.

                                                                           CUT TO:

NANCY: Don't you just love Chintz?

Pull back to reveal that we are:

INT. VICTORIA HOUSE - BEDROOM - TWILIGHT

An explosion of floral patterns on every surface. Katherine stands, holding the real estate section of the WELLESLEY NEWS.

NANCY: And look.

She pulls back the floral bedcover to reveal matching floral sheets.

KATHERINE: They match.

NANCY: Sweet, right?

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I'd never really considered the hard CUT TO: could be used with unity of character.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)(4/2/02, 2nd draft)
by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal

TODAY'S NUGGET: Confessions of a Nervous Man (1953; Live TV) - Cinematic Transitions Useful on Live Narrative TV

[Quick Summary: While waiting for opening night reviews, a playwright relives his angst getting his play ("The Seven Year Itch") to the stage.]

Though I don't usually read tv scripts, I made an exception for this one because:
1) it's written by renowned playwright and screenwriter George Axelrod,* and
2) it was for live tv (an episode of the "Studio One" show).

Given that it was for live tv, I was impressed that this script used so many cinematic techniques, particularly in the transitions.

For example, in the scene below:
- Camera movement (dissolves) and stage cues (music, sound) indicate the story was moving to a dream sequence.
- Though the script says "dream sequence," it's actually more of a fantasy sequence of the Author character's fears.
- Notice how "tight head shot" to slow dissolve is the equivalent of going into someone's mind space.

MAN: Relax, baby -- you got a smash -- a smash -- all you got to worry about is what to do with the money...

THE MAN MOVES ON...

AUTHOR (muttering again):  Atkinson....Kerr...Chapman...the critics are sitting there...destroying me..right now...

THE CAMERA HAS MOVED IN TO A TIGHT HEAD SHOT.

SOUND: RAPID TYPING FROM THREE TYPEWRITERS FADES IN

THE MUSIC BECOMES DREAM...OR RATHER NIGHTMARE IN QUALITY.

SLOW DISSOLVE TO:

THREE DESKS WITH THREE TYPEWRITERS BEHIND WHICH SIT THREE FIENDS. EACH DESK HAS A NAME PLATE: ATKINSON...KERR...AND CHAPMAN....

THE FIENDS ARE TYPING FURIOUSLY AND GIVING OUT WITH DREADFUL GHOULISH LAUGHTER AS THEY SPEAK.

ATKINSON: Tedious....

KERR: Dreary and uninspired....

CHAPMAN:  Sets Broadway back fifty years....

ALL THREE LAUGH GHOULISHLY TOGETHER

ATKINSON: Contrived, unoriginal and tasteless..

KERR: Left this reviewer with a distinct feeling of nausea....

CHAPMAN:  Stamp out this ugly thing!

ALL LAUGH AND TYPE FURIOUSLY. THE LAUGHTER MINGLES WITH THE MUSIC AS WE DISSOLVE TO:

TIGHT CLOSE SHOT OF THE AUTHOR'S ANGUISHED FACE. HE STRUGGLES TO PULL HIMSELF TOGETHER. HE DRINKS A LITTLE OF HIS DRINK.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: This script showed me how much can still be done on live tv with just transitions, and without editorial cuts or special effects.

"Studio One: "Confessions of a Nervous Man" (1953)
by George Axelrod

*The Seven Year Itch, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Manchurian Candidate.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Cutthroat Island (1994) - Effective Onomatopoeia in an Action Sequence ("JING! JING!")

[Quick Summary: A thief is rescued by a female pirate in order to help her locate two other pieces of a treasure map.]

BAD NEWS: I feel that this script starts off strong, with great, promising characters, but then it becomes a bit predictable at the end.

GOOD NEWS: The action sequences surprised me! They're so visceral and alive.  

It was so unusual how the writers captured the sound and motion with onomatopoeia.  I felt like I was with the characters in the middle of the fight.

For example, in the scene below:
- Morgan (female pirate) was insulted by Frenchman Toussant.
- Her suitor, Lord Ainslie, challenged Toussant to a duel.
- Later, Morgan asks Toussant to cancel the duel.  If he does not, she will fight him.
- Toussant won't back down, so Morgan shoots off the tip of his ear.
- Note how the onomatopoeia (JING! JING!) reads and sounds exactly like the clashing, and how it  especially convinces you that you're a participant.

EXT. SEBASTIAN'S ISLAND

...She starts for her horse. Toussant grabs one of the rapiers that's been stuck point first into the sand in front of the Second

TOUSSANT: I say you missed.

Morgan stops, her back to him, and waits.

TOUSSANT (continuing): This duel is not over. 

Resolutely, Morgan turns, walks over and pulls the other rapier out of the sand, slashes it, once, twice, through the air to get a sense of its heft. When she's ready, she takes off her hat and, shaking her hair loose, assumes the "en garde" position in front of Toussant.

MORGAN: We don't have to do this.

TOUSSANT: I can accept nothing less.

JING!..., JING!..., JING!, JING!, JING!, JING! They feel each other out. Toussant is fabulous. But Morgan is his equal. JING!, JING!, JING!...JING!, JING!, JING! SLASH! Woussant winces. Morgan has drawn first blood. JING!, JING!, JING! Toussant attacks. SLASH! Morgan cuts him again. JING!, JING!, JING!, JING! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! Roussant puts three slices int he front of Morgan's shirt. Blood wells from the cuts under two of them As she moves, we can almost see her breasts. JING!, JING!, JING! Circling around each other, they edge out onto a flat, rocky point.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I liked how the right onomatopoeia gets the reader into the journey faster, which is half battle for a writer.

Cutthroat Island (1994)(dated 4/12/94)
by Robert King and Marc Norman
Story by Michael Frost Beckner & James Gorman and Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon

TODAY'S NUGGET: Oklahoma Crude (1973) - Primal Ferocity of a Single-Minded, No Excuses Female Lead

[Quick Summary: When a big oil company harasses a woman who owns a small oil field, her only allies are her estranged father and a stranger.]

Before he co-wrote (and won the Oscar for) Shakespeare in Love (1998), Marc Norman wrote this script with an unapologetic, ambitious female lead.* 

It may sound trite, but I've read a lot of single-minded male characters, undistracted by ideas of balancing work and family, but not female ones.

What is interesting about Lena is her sheer force of will.  This is her fight and she's willing to die for it.**  Why do I believe that? Why am I curious to follow her?

I think it's because her stubbornness, the stuff of legends, leads her to wild places.  

For example, in an early scene below:
- We see how hard bitten Lena has become.
- Her absentee dad Cleon comes to her plot of oil field.  This is their first contact and he tries to offer help.
- Notice how her motive is all about survival. She doesn't even waste a syllable on him.
- Also note: There were no slug lines (INT./EXT.) in this script.  Rather, it was broken into chapters.  The one below is titled, "LENA'S FATHER SHOWS UP."

His eyes rove her -- land on her folded hands. He smiles faintly, and gingerly lays his hand on top of hers.

CLEON (CONT'D): Look...

Lena recoils, snatches up the rifle.

LENA: Stay back.
CLEON (CONT'D): Look at your hand. It's the same as mine.

He tries to get her to compare them.

CLEON (CONT'D): Look at it -- you got my hand. (desperate) Damn it, Lena -- I come to help you. LENA: Me and my oil land!
CLEON: No -- to help you. To help you hold out, if that's what you want.

Lena looks up at him and chuckles bitterly.

LENA: Can you use a rifle?

Cleon makes a sort-of gesture.

LENA (angry): Handle a derrick, maybe? Can you drill a hole?
CLEON: I can learn..!
LENA: Just get out of here!
CLEON: No!
LENA (shouting): What the hell good are you?
CLEON: I'm your pa, Lena!    
LENA: So? You gonna read me nursery rhymes?

She stands, turns her back on him, and starts up the hill.

CLEON: Lena! You can't do it all by yourself.

She spins, raging.

LENA: Just fuck off
CLEON: Don't do this...    
LENA: I mean it!

Cleon falls to his knees in prayer.

CLEON: I can't, Lena...
LENA (exploding): Get out of here, you...scumbag son-of a bitch!

Cleon's mouth drops open. Lena fires, wildly, from the hip -- hit hat flies off.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I don't see female characters like this in more modern scripts.  There's something refreshing about a character who is this focused on the present, and not worried with "having it all."

Oklahoma Crude (1973)
by Marc Norman

 *It was played by actress Faye Dunaway (after Bonnie and Clyde, but before Chinatown).

**As an aside, she was not "likeable", and I was fine with it. I liked that this script took such a big swing on a female character.

TODAY'S NUGGET: The Ice Harvest (2005) - When Wide/Close/Tight Camera Shots Works for an Action Montage

[Quick Summary: A shady lawyer tries to make off with $2M that was stolen from a Wichita, Kansas mob boss.]

Q: Why were you interested in this action-dark comedy?
A: Because it's from the great writer-director Robert Benton, who is mostly known for dramas.*

Q: What did you like about it?
A: I thought the action montage (below) was interesting because it reads so easily on the page.  I didn't notice the camera shots.

Q: GASP!! Camera shots?! Isn't there a "rule": Do not to include camera shots?
A: Yes.  (Though you know I believe in guidelines, not the so-called "rules.") 

Q: Why can they break this "rule"?
A: The purpose of the so-called "rule" is for new writers to avoid using &/or mishandling a device they don't know how to (or why to) use them.  

Experienced writers will knowingly use camera shots when they have a specific purpose for them, as shown in this scene below.

NOTE:
- Vic has been chasing Charlie and his co-conspirator Roy.
- Vic has just shot Roy.
- I like that the close ups are saved for big important, climatic scenes like this one.

EXT. LAKE BASCOMBE - NIGHT

...A QUICK SERIES OF SHOTS:

ON ROY: as he hits the deck like a ton of bricks. [Roy is the first sign of this dock falling like dominoes.]

INSERT OF SEVERAL PILINGS --as they give way. We HEAR the sound of rotting wood being torn apart.  [We see and hear the cause. Also, we're not in any single POV.]

TIGHT ON CHARLIE --who guesses first what's going to happen and grabs for one of the taller pilings.  [Close up of our protagonist = "important," in cinema language.]

RIGHT ON MORE OF THE DOCK'S CRUCIAL UNDERPINNINGS--as they start to collapse. [This builds on the previous insert of the pilings, building tension.]

CLOSE ON VIC--looking around, unable to grasp what is going on. [Close up to show another character is confused at an important moment.]

WIDE SHOT--We see the dock from some distance away and in slow motion the last section of it (where Charlie, Vic and Roy have been standing) begins to sag and give way. [Wide shot show the extent of what is befalling the three men.]

CLOSER IN--Roy's body begins to slide down toward the ice below. [Close shot of the beginning of Roy slipping away, both metaphorically and actually.  This extends Charlie's anguish because Roy was the only one who had the info about the hidden money.]

MED. SHOT VIC--as his feet go out from under him and he lands on the sloping dock. [The medium shot is useful to see where Vic slips and lands.]

ON ROY'S CORPSE--as it lands on the ice below, making a terrible sound and sending out cracks in every direction. An instant later the empty trunk hits, opening a hole in the ice.  [This shot completes the arc of where Roy ends up and dovetails next shot.]

TIGHT ON VIC--who beings to slide down the slippery incline; frantically grabbing at whatever with his free (he won't surrender the gun in the other). His slide is slow, but he can't stop it, and as he disappears into the gap in the dock (following Roy), he even tries to grab onto Charlie. Failing, he too disappears into the void. A split second later, WE HEAR A THUD, FOLLOWING BY A CRACKING SOUND from below. [Tight shot for Vic's big finale. Vic follows Roy, metaphorically and actually.]

ON CHARLIE, still hanging onto the piling for dear life, looking over his shoulder.  [Charlie is the lone survivor, and we want to see all of his reaction.]

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I didn't notice the camera shots because they had a purpose. In this big moment, I expected (and wanted to see) close up reactions.

The Ice Harvest (2005)(undated draft)
by Robert Benton & Richard Russo
Based on the novel by Scott Phillips

*The films that he wrote (& may have also directed) include: Kramer v. Kramer; Places in the Heart; Superman; Bonnie & Clyde; What's Up Doc?  He has 7 Oscar nominations (1 win for direction and 3 wins for writing).

TODAY'S NUGGET: Love's Labour Lost (2000) - "[Love] Kills Sheep" Sight Gag in Shakespeare

[Quick Summary: This is a musical adaption of a Shakespeare play, set in the 1930s, in which four friends swear off love.]  

BAD NEWS:

I admire Kenneth Branagh's attempt to do something new by adding dance and musical numbers to a lesser known Shakespearean play, but I didn't believe it.

Roger Ebert writes about a few problems:

"Love's Labour's Lost" is hardly ever performed on the stage and has never been previous filmed, and there is a reason for that: It's not about anything. In its original form, instead of the songs and dances we have dialogue that's like an idle exercise in easy banter for Shakespeare. (my underline)

As a result: 

It's like a warm-up for the real thing. It makes not the slightest difference which boy gets which girl, or why, and by starting the action in 1939 and providing World War II as a backdrop, Branagh has not enriched either the play or the war, but fit them together with an awkward join....Like cotton candy, it's better as a concept than as an experience.

GOOD NEWS:

1) I did like the updated use for the homonym (1 word, 2 meanings) for "Ajax", then used to reference a tragic Trojan War figure, and now for a cleanser.

2) Branagh furthers the turn of phrase with an actual sight gag: the cleanser, i.e., love, has killed the sheep! This visual is a funny, clever way to show a metaphor.

INT. LIBRARY -- DAY

BEROWNE prowls the circular gallery.  He passes books which he ignores and cleaning materials, which he does not. Next to an abandoned servant's broom there is a well known brand of bleach. This inspires him.

BEROWNE: By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax,

He glances out the window. A sheep grazes in the park. After a moment it falls over unconscious.

BEROWNE: It kills sheep!

But in this state, any form of madness is understandable.

BEROWNE (CONT'D): It kills me, I a sheep! I will not love. If I do, hang me; I'faith, I will not.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I particularly like this sight gag because it works for those who understand the literal level (cleanser kills sheep), but also those who get the humor of the deeper level (those who know historical Ajax + the cleanser).

Love's Labour Lost (2000)
by Kenneth Branagh and William Shakespeare

TODAY'S NUGGET: Tucker: A Man and His Dream (1988) - A Foil Role Worthy of a Best Supporting Actor Nomination

[Quick Summary: Against all odds, Preston Tucker, famed for building WWII combat turrets, decides to build the Tucker "car of tomorrow."]

Though this was an ok script, how did it end up netting Martin Landau an Oscar nominated performance for best supporting actor?

Well, first, he had direction by Francis Ford Coppola, which couldn't hurt.

Second, he played the character of Abe, a realistic NYC businessman and Tucker's biggest ally.  Abe is also is used as a foil, often exposing Tucker's blind spots. 

For example, in the scene below, he tries to reason with Tucker, who only wants to think big.

Notice how Abe's practicality is contrasted by Tucker's impracticality (or is it vision?)*, which is the point of the scene.

INT. DEN - DAY

Abe is talking. Tucker, Vera, and Eddie are in the room.

ABE: ...which leaves three war surplus plants we've got a shot at. A long shot, because everybody in the country's trying to get them, but it's worth a try. One's perfect. Nice and little. The other's too big. Cost twice as much to re-tool, but we could swing it if we had to.

TUCKER: What's the third one?

ABE: Impossible. The Dodge plant, where they built the B-29 engines in Chicago.

TUCKER: What's wrong with that?

ABE: It covers 475 acres for one thing, with sixteen buildings. One of them is seventy-three acres long. One building. The biggest building in the world under one roof.

Vera and Eddie look at each other, knowing exactly what Tucker will say.

CLOSE ON TUCKER.

TUCKER: It's perfect!

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: A good foil will push back against the protagonist, and thus reveal things in the protagonist we did not know before. 

A foil is often the main antagonist, but could even be an ally, like Abe here.

Tucker: A Man and His Dream (1988)(revised shooting draft, 5/5/87)
by Arnold Schulman and David Seidler

*Just for fun: Only 50 Tucker automobiles were made, and I think Preston Tucker would be thrilled that they are now valued over $1+M.

TODAY'S NUGGET: Rachel, Rachel (1968) - Making the Unfamiliar Familiar

[Quick Summary: After a big city boy asks her out, a lonely grade school teacher, who lives with her mother, starts to daydream about where her life is going.]

Though he's read thousands of scripts, Black List founder Franklin Leonard recently said that he still looks for scripts that "transport" him somewhere.

But what does that look like on the page? 

This week's script is a good example of transporting us into a character's head because it made the unfamiliar very familiar in a few sentences.

FYI: I will note that this wonderfulness does come with some messiness.  We are in Rachel's POV, which is subjective, moody, and prone to tangents.

As a result, the story was sometimes jumbled and weird. (But perhaps that's the point?  After all this IS called "Rachel, Rachel.")

I liked the scene below, which instantly makes the unfamiliar familiar:
- This is the first time we see Rachel's mother in her own social setting.
- Within a few short sentences, we know the relationship between these women is long standing, competitive, and a relief from daily life (eating, smoking).
- We know Mother is concerned about appearances ("company eyeglasses," "elfin frames of delphinium blue" says a lot in a few words).
- Though I may not know these characters, I know this situation of playing games at someone else's house. It felt like I was sitting at this table.

INT. DINING ROOM - CLOSE SHOT - MOTHER - NIGHT

It is later now. Mother looks cute with her curly hair and "company eyeglasses", with their elfin frames of delphinium blue.

MOTHER: Oh, Verla! You're not going to no-trump!

CAMERA PULLS BACK to show Mother playing bridge at the dining-room table with her cronies, VERLA, FLORENCE, and HOLLY. They have consumed everything on the platter and are smoking up a storm.

VERLA: Now don't be a sore loser, May. When you come to my house, you can win!

WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I am impressed by the speed which I simply felt I dropped into this scene. It is a masterful economy of writing.

Rachel, Rachel (1968)
by Stewart Stern
Based on the novel "A Jest of God", by Margaret Laurence