Lufka
Wilyan Ram – Son, 23
Danyal Ram – Father, 61
Jesp Ram – Mother, 43
Cēn Ram – Daughter, 16
Sīsa Ram – Absent daughter, 27
Ven – Maid, 24
4 further female servants
Kat – Wil's Carer, 28
Abwe – Groundskeeper, 40
Shī – Waiter, 58
Teta – Cook, 51
Lufka – Doyen, 33
Fea – Desired, 18
Orientation – T/B F FR R BR B BL L FL xx
Distance - C S M L D
Time – BML
Tracking/Panning - xx T/P
Zoom in/out – xx +/-
A blind baby suckles at the breast, content - L CL
Wil, 12, sat in bed, restless – R SM
The town's main street, dusk. Mainly men come and go, drunken, children scurry among them - F MB
An alley where a man lies drunk - F MM
A serving of tata soup, with a lump of white bread – T CM
The face of a listless woman, aware she is being watched in the murk of her home – F CM
The town from the height of the Ram manor at dawn, rising – F DL P
Black, title fades in white. The sound of chopping wood, then burning wood, then baking bread, then the pronounced breaking and eating of bread fade in over each other, distorting until crest.
All of Wil's chairs have barriers to stop hjm from falling out.
Wil sat in his chair before the dinner table, shuffling with unease, helpless as his legs draw him forward, with only the use of his back and neck muscles, his arms and legs limp. Kat pushes in his chair, lifts his body so that he is sat upright, and then recedes from shot left - L ML
Wil sat in his chair, Kat behind him - F SM
Danyal sat in his chair, listless - F SM
Cen sat in her chair, she picks fowl from her plate and puts it below the table - F SM
Jesp sat in her chair, rigid - F SM
Wil sat in his chair, Shi enters from rear carrying a plate of tata wedges, fried with onions, garnished with parsley and coarse salt - F SL
Shi reaches Danyal's grasp and sets the plate down, Danyal in background. Shi recedes to the wall of the room and Danyal reaches for tatas and eats - L SL
Wil sat in his chair. Kat broaches right and begins to feed Wil the fowl's breast with herbs, Wil turns his head slightly and chews with restrained delight - F S
As he eats, we hear him voiceover. His meal comes to include broccoli, a little wine, some walnuts and eventually the red meat from the bone, including the joints, as he likes it, which he crunches like a beast
Wil – I was born lame. I never got a good reason why but it doesn't matter, a reason wouldn't help me walk, feed myself, or keep my body clean, and I'm glad my tender has such attention to detail. [Kat as he is feeding Wil, a hollow face, then return to previous – F SB] We live in a valley west of the city. One, I grasp, much like any other. Stewards of it's land and the affairs of it's people, who're treated as well as they deserve. [Shot from rear of Wil, so the spread on the table can be see – BR S] We live well, though not in excess, [Shot of the entire table, larger than it need be – F L +] and I sometimes grudge father's thrift when hearing of the splendour of other places, other times, other homes. My bed is soft [His bed, redwood – F M] my clothes are fine [His wardrobe, darkwood – F M], [the serving dishes of stuffed fowl, steamed peas&broccoli&carrots, bread, tata, pickled cabbage, pesto&sauces, spinach&lettuce, tomato soup, cheese&butter&cream, walnuts&almonds&pistachios, apples&pomegranates&mandarins, and red wine in rapid order - starting T S and ending T F C], my food pleasant and ample, though I take little enough of it, and the girls present suit my fancy [back to Wil eating fowl from the bone – F M], but if there were half as much townfolk we'd live twice as well, [his mouth, rending and crunching joint and bone – F C] and so I resent them. A little more, a little more... [remains of the fowl leg – T F C] but father is too kind.
Danyal, eating with less décor than a man, but more than a pig - F MM
The square table in the state room. It has a lion and eagle marquetry pattern with a Georgian crown atop, the whole stained and varnished to a purple and gold contrast - T M
Wil – I grasp that our country is ruled by a monarch, but, rarely leaving the valley, I wouldn't know. [Wil, 12, sat by an open window in his bedroom, looking out, feeling the wind on his face – R S] I know very little, despite my learning. I admit it, but, having so little means to expand my sperence, what can I do but believe what I hear?
Wil sat in a fine chair in the library - L MM
Kat tapping at a tablet before a large set of quality speakers, the book case behind – B MM
Mahler's 5th symphony plays.
Wil sat in the fine chair. Voiceover - F S
Wil – My music stock is some 100,000 parts ranging from 3 seconds to several hours, the mean being 6 minutes and 12 seconds. [washer woman singing – F M] I have allthings from the folk music of the sumerians to [the pylon outside town – F M] techno from what used to be the city of Detroit, [Wil's brow – F C] but my preference is germanic classical music. [Portia Orchids – F S] I grasp it is for much folk in cases like mine.
Wil sat in the chair, beyond the speakers we see the extent of the bookcase. Voiceover - B L -
Wil – My book stock is some 2,000 volumes, 5,000 files, 100 audio parts spanning from [cello, of quality – F C] the vedas, Greek tragedy, the bible in 5 translations, the Qu'ran in 3, [the piano, of quality – L M] to the Chinese classics, Victorian romantic poets, German idealistic philosophy, Soviet social realism, French modernist theater, African literature of the last century, [the flute box – F C] and countless essays for which there was no doting book. [shot of Wil's left eye – F S] I spend a great deal of my time with my tender, [Wil's withered right hand – T FL C] having him scour natnet for matters of interest and reading them to me. [Wil's withered left foot – T FR C] I guide him on what he relays [shot of Wil's right eye – F C] and I can trust him to say what he sees. [Kat's right arm – FR C] I am loath to sully myself with what I know is vulgar and muchdone, [Kat's jaw – L C] but he knows what I prefer, so tailors the text, through frequent paring, [Fea looking at the morning – F L] to what I desire. [Fea – F S] What matters more? [Black] I'm under no illusions, I know, in much ways, how lucky I am.
The gardens - R ML P
Wil – I want for nothing, [lavender plant, rose plant, mint plant in rapid sequence – F C] have fragrance, [pot of honey, pot of jam, pot of caramel in rapid sequence – F C] flavour, [Kat practising Cello, Flute, Piano in rapid sequence – S] and harmony at hand. [the faces of a series of young town girls, ending and pausing on Fea, who walks back indoors – F S] My desires are much, and they are all met without pause within the confines of my life.
Wil sat in the fine chair - F MM +
Wil – Stop. [The music stops. Wil speaks aloud] I am not sated. Through beauty and comfort, sense and substance, I know there is more, and I want it.
A kennel full of dogs, eating – F ML
A drone lands in the Ram court, releases it's cargo, and leaves. After a time servants come and collect the contents – T FR LL
Servants dividing boxes whose end goal is elsewhere - R CB
A servant hauling much boxes farcically trying to open a door she cannot see past the boxes – R MM
The opening of a box with a knife – T F CB
The opening of boxes with a knife – T F SB
The discarding of boxes – F MB
The discarding of boxes – LB MB
The discarding of boxes – R MB
Teta storing the kitchen things – F MM
Ven storing cleaning things – B MM
Kat putting new books on their shelves – B MM
Abwe storing gardening things in the greenhouse - F MM
Servants labelling bags of seed – F SB
Servants labelling tools – F LB
Servants labelling wine – F CB
Servants moving heavy bags of seed off the grounds – T R LB
Servants moving the labelled things into the storehouse outside the grounds – L MB
The worker putting labelled things on the shelves of the storehouse – R LB
The worker putting labelled things on the shelves of the storehouse – RB MB
An item cell with a console and keycard lock on the outside of the storehouse – F SB
The worker moving a large paper packing into the cell from the inside, then closing it – R SB
The worker closing the reinforced storehouse door, it's keycard panel beeps – F MM
An alarm unit in the storehouse, the calm assured glow of it's flashing light – F CM
The item cell, a camera above it. It is only from this angle that we realise how inclined the ground is here. After time a man comes, fumbles in his garment for his card, swipes it, opens the cell, returns his card, takes out his large packet, and closes the cell with his body. Then, bending under the weight of his packet, ambles back down hill – R LL
A nightingale, it's song alone - FR CM
Wil's aviary, the throng of countless passeri - F DL
Wil sat in a chair looking at the aviary through the grate, Kat behind him - R ML
Wil in a chair looking at Fea, Kat behind him – R ML
Fea's face, shame – F CM
Wil's face, toxic – F C
Wil – I see marks on your body.
Wil in a chair looking at Fea, Kat behind him. Fea looks down at her body – R ML
Wil – Play no nescience, you know what you've done.
Fea's face, fear, sufferance – F CM
Wil's face, ire – F C
Wil – You've betrayed me.
Fea's face – F CB
Wil's face – F C
Wil – You've used me.
Fea's face – F CB
Wil's face – F C
Wil – You've cheated me of what's mine.
Fea's face, she looks down and cries – F CM
Wil in a chair looking at Fea, Kat behind him – R M
Wil – You are mine, dear, and in order for you to know that it seems you must be shown it. Down. [she does so, hands tucked in, rear resting on heels]
Will in the chair, Kat behind him, who then moves off towards Fea. Pause. The sound of her being spanked – F ML
A woman grinding grain to flour – L SM
Her daughter kneading dough - FR MM
The son rolling the dough out – FL SM
The father putting loaves in a stone oven – R MM
Their bakery, where people wait outside, a young girl in the centre of the queue – F LM
A woman grinding grain to flour – R SB
Her daughter kneading dough - FL MB
Her son rolling the dough out – FR SB
The father putting loaves in a stone oven – L MB
The bakery, the young girl at the front of the queue, which is no shorter – F LM
Danyal at his desk, across which he can barely be seen. A fine piece topped by a gold golden eagle right and a ram's head carved from horn left, as well as piles of papers - F LM
Danyal at his desk, looking down at the budget. He ponders with a finger at his mouth, and then crosses out something else, among several other crossed out lines. - R SM
Danyal at his desk, a pleasant sound alerts him to his tablet, he picks it up and after some thought and weighing the matter fairly, he presses on the tablet screen. - F ML +
A man stood in the cold before the item cell. The man is roused from waiting and looks at the console, displaying a list, there is now a red cross next to a request where there was not one. The man pauses, and then turns to leave – LB ML
Cen, her dog (A yorkshire terrier with a short coat and top hair) beside her, before a mirror, brushing her hair. She brushes as much as is needed, pauses a moment, and then brushes again, and her face betrays the vacuum in her life - FR ML
Cen's feet as she walks through the halls - R SM
The dog's feet as it follows – R SB
Cen walking through the halls, coming to the foyer where she passes Ven - B ML T
Cen – Where is my brother?
Ven – The gardens, miss.
Cen – Bring tea, as usual.
Ven – Yes, miss.
Hot water is poured into the pot - F SB
Scones are placed into the oven to warm – L SB
Clotted cream is spooned into a little pot - R SB
Jam is spooned into a little pot beside the first, Teta leaves shot to the right, and returns after a pause with bottled cream, then leaves to the left and returns with a small jug, pouring from one to the other - F SL
Cen walking through the rear door beside the greenhouse and across the patio to the stairs. The dog always follows - R MM T
Wil sat before the parapet that drops onto the rugged slopes at the north west of the grounds, the ordered grids of flower beds (some 2/3s of which are blue shades) and the house in view. Kat is directly behind him. We can see Cen approach, slowly and without rushing. Wil breathes with his diaphragm in a slow and steady manner - F ML
The view of the Georgian countryside from this place, which falls sharply, with the river low to the right and fir woods on the hills to the left, the land, dotted mainly by lime, then slowly rising towards the source, but far from it - F LM
The view of the steep rocky slope down, the height unclear – T F MM
Wil in the same place, shortly his sister arrives and stands beside him. Wil barely reacts to her presence. Pause – L ML
Cen – I much preferred the railing to this meagre thing. [looking on the parapet, which she presses with her foot]
Wil – [pause] If you think so there are three other sides where you can idle.
Cen – [turns to him] And look either upon the walls of the valley or those squalid people! Perverse offer, brother. [looks ahead, as Wil is unmoved by her gaze] No change was made to the grounds for me, and yet you have them tear down the work of craftsfolk for the sake of your view.
Wil – Those craftsfolk live in the town you loathe to look at, and their work is our's to dispose of... as we see fit.
Cen – [turns to him, Ven arrives with the tea tray] You mean as you see fit!
Wil – Fine then, as I see fit. [Cen huffs with resent, Ven pauses before speaking]
Ven – Your tea, miss.
Cen – [she turns] Yes yes, put it by the rose table.
Ven – Thank you, miss. [she turns and walks the way he came]
Cen – [she looks at Wil] Won't you join me for tea brother?
Wil – Black?
Cen – Yes.
Wil – Then no, but I will sit with you.
Cen – sif you can do owt else. [She turns and walks away. Wil nods and Kat lifts him from his seat and follows, the strength and control required to hold Wil in this way at a distance from his body without troubling him is great]
Kat carrying Wil through the gardens, blue base, flashes of red and yellow, but lacking white – L LM
The stamen of a rose, imminent almost beyond recog (recognition) – F CB
Cen before mainly blue roses, cutting open a scone, then spreading clotted cream on it - F SM
Wil sat before mainly magent roses, opposite her, watching - F SM
Cen daintily licks the knife clean, some amorous restraint withheld, but barely - F SM
Wil - F S
Wil – Are you going to pour tea or just eat scones?
Cen puts the knife in her mouth to clean it in one movement, purses her lips - F S
Cen – dont be mean, brother, I like the cream to dry some, and surely you dont gripe? [a tempting look]
Wil - F S
Wil – Not at all, but [his eyes dart weakly down her body, obscured by the table, as his twitches on his upper right] I do wonder whether you take tea as an excuse to eat.
Cen – F S
Cen – [galled] Not all folk starve themselves as you do, I've a healthy figure, and I beg you to object! [her arms push together slightly and her breast is raised subtly]
Wil – F S
Wil – A fine figure, sister, [he looks her over longingly] a fine figure, but health is a thing our house lacks and you are no different.
Cen – F S
Cen – [she grudges this fact cooly, feigns lost interest] Then health is what I want. [She samples a morsel]
Beneath the table a pinch of scone is fed to the dog – BL SB
Cen – F S
Wil – Is it? [Cen is taken aback]
A blue rose in full bloom – F CM
Kennels full of barking dogs – F LM
Wil, 12, in bed. Sisa, 17, before him. She pauses and then undoes the neck of a teardrop dress (high neck, no shoulders) - FL ML
Sisa undoing the moderate restraints at her waist, her body filling the new space it has, fleshly – F SM
A flax field – F LM
Flax being pulled up by the root – F CB
Flax retting in a purpose-made pool – T MM -
Flax being removed from the pool, a woman wipes her brow – R MM
Flax being broken by hand – F SB
Flax being scutched – L CB
Flax being threshed with a hackle – F MB
Flax being sorted by hand - TFR SM
Flax being spun by hand by much women – F LB
Linen thread being bleached – T MM
much pools of threads for dyeing, blue, red, pink, violet – F MB
Jesp sat at a table, patterns before her, her thumb scratching just below her lip – T RB SB
The weaving of damask at a draw loom – F MB
The sewing of fabric to fabric – FL CB
A simple dress lays on the desk of the tailor – T ML
The entire process of the creation of a needle lace cuff condensed to 3 seconds – T BL SM
The sewing of lace to fabric – R SB
The embroidery of the Ram seal to the breast of the dress – L SB
A man sorting the best flax seed – F MB
The remaining seed shovelled into a steaming cellar – FL LB
Compost in a dirty hand – FR CB
A girl carrying an unbleached linen packet up the steep hill towards the Ram manor – R LM
Jesp stood before a mirror in her new dress, turning from angle to angle, flattering her own figure, and then making a short sound of approval – BL ML
A group of smoking men play a game of chance on the right of the town square, as workers come and go to the right – F LM
A man stamps a fork into the ground and frees tatas – TL SM
A man whips oxen that head a plough – L LM
A woman beats wheat – R MM
A tiny child eats tata soup and a crust of bread – F SM
Wil sat before the aviary, he turns his head right and says unheard words to Kat, Kat leaves the aviary.
The song and flutter of birds is intense – F ML
Kat walking through the halls, he comes to Ven in the foyer and speaks hushed word – L ML T
Kat – The master requests the lady's presence in the drawing room.
Kat walks away and Ven walks rightwards – L ML T
Jesp sat at a chair before a window reading from a tablet, a knock at the door – FL L
Jesp – Enter.
Ven enters at the door, is almost obscured by the shot
Ven – The young master requests your presence in the drawing room.
Jesp – [pause, she takes a long breath] Okay.
Ven – Thank you mam [she curtsies].
Ven leaves, Jesp pauses, puts down her tablet, pauses, then sighs.
Wil's bed, empty – FR MB
Wil sits opposite Jesp across a drawing room table, his back to the sun streaming in – L M
Jesp – What is it, Wilyan?
Wil – [F S] [Pause, he looks at his mother's dress] That's a nice dress mother, is it new?
Jesp – [Previous] [she looks down, then back up] Yes.
Wil – Hm, very nice [without looking again, he pauses] The reason I called for you is a request. The girl, my best one, I'd like her to have a misbirth.
Jesp – [some surprise] She needs one?
Wil – [F S] [pause] She may. In any case I see it fit that she has one, and wish not to bother father with this thing. You will get the doctor.
Jesp – [Previous] [looks at her son, stunned and somewhat repulsed, struggles to muster a response] Yes.
Wil – [FR L] [he looks about him] Good, good, you can go now. [his gaze comes to rest on his mother, his look disdain]
Jesp – [knowing her presence unwanted, herself unloved] I wonder if.. sometimes you'd call for me from love. [Jesp's face, beneath glare – F S] Instead, only ever sickness.
Wil – [previous] [pause, and then sif surprised with her surprise] Quite.
The servants going down the hill to the town – L LB
The man who was rejected sat before a fire at night – FR MB +
Lumberjacks at work – L LB
The man who was rejected sat before a fire at night - FR CB +
The stripping of logs of their branches – R MB
The cutting of logs down to size – BL - MB
The loading of logs into carts – F MB
The man who was rejected sat before a fire at night. His son's stomach rumbles and he turns to look, the camera follows. The son wears a look of shame – FR SM T
The boy from the night before carrying milk pails, his face beaten but still ashamed – F MM T
A woman sat milking a cow – B MB
A woman stirring milk in a heated vat – B MB
2 women chopping the curds – F MB
A woman spooning curds to cheese cloth – B MB
Curds draining – F MB
A woman cutting the curds and stacking them – TR MB
A woman shredding the cheese – R MB
A woman salting the cheese – RB MB
A woman moving the cheese into moulds – B MB
A woman waxing the cheese – LB MB
A woman moving the cheese into storage for maturation – L ML T
The cheese storehouse, with enough cheese for the Ram's with a minimum 1 year ageing period – F SL P
3 shots of cheese of growing age – F CB
A chain of ants on a rock path. Feet approach and step on them on the way – L SM
Danyal walks through the town and looks at the houses, the carts, the windows, roofs, clothes of the folk in a manner telling of his task to cut costs, he comes to the centre and sees the men gambling, stopping to look at them. They know to disperse, and do so. Danyal pauses, and then goes on – L ML T
A youth eating a chunk of cheese in an alley, Danyal comes and blocks out the light – F ML
Danyal pointing his gun at the youth as he leads him back to the square – R ML T
A woman sat weaving a brush, she looks up in horror – F MM
The square, Danyal stood behind the youth, people gather. Danyal fires, the youth falls. Cries of pain and wails of distress mingle distantly. Danyal pauses, then approaches the fallen youth, fires a shot into his other leg. Pause. Danyal fires shots into each of his arms. Pause. Danyal holsters his gun and walks back towards the Ram house, hands behind his back. When he has passed out of shot the people come to tend to the boy. - TR LL
The boy, belly down, straining his head to look forward, in shock and dying – F MM
The cheese in the alley – F SB
A stick tapping the ground – R SB
Lufka walking along the path towards town, an aerial tower passes into shot – R LL
Crested Gentian in bloom – F CM
Rosemary in bloom – F CM
Dyer's Bugloss in bloom – F CM
Cornflower in bloom – F CM
Sage in bloom – F CM
Lavender in bloom, Abwe's hand comes and cuts off a flower head – F CM
The inside of a beehive – F CM
The outside of the beehive, Abwe approaches, puts down a large jar, and turns a lever which opens the cells and releases the honey, he moves off as the honey trickles – F ML
Wil sat in a chair naked, his stomach rumbles – F MM
Wil's mouth and nose, honey is put before him into a small pot, he breathes it in with slow relish – F CM
Wil sat in a steaming bath. After some time Kat comes from the left and scatters cut flower heads into the bath as Wil voices over – L M
Wil – It would be a mistake to believe me wanton, there is reason to this. I accept my limits as a cripple and instead seek new pastures where I can. Were I able, of course I would venture into the world, but I am not, and part of me suspects were I to attempt it the state would dissuade me. [F S] No, my place is here, my work is this, and how could I complain?
Wagner's Faust plays
Wil training his abdominal muscles – R MM
The doctor in his practise – LF LM
Wil astride a convex lounger – L MM
The doctor sat opposite Jesp – RF MM
Wil training his back muscles – R MM
Fea in her squalid home sewing, a strong knock at her door which causes her to jump and her mother to look fearfly to the door – L MM
The doctor preparing instruments – FR SB
Wil being strapped into a device by Kat – R SB
Fea being strapped to the operating table, faceless – T SB
A faceless girl being strapped into a device – L CB
The face of the doctor, knowing he is about to perform a pointless surgery – F CB
Music stops suddenly
Wil fucking a girl in the device which tethers him to her whilst allowing sufficient freedom of movement for his body to be the prime force – F ML
Wil in the bathtub again, he sighs, content, relaxes, and sinks into the water, bubbles rise and Kat steps forward into shot with concern, then Wil sits up and he wriggles back – L ML
Fea in a chair, legs turned in aching– F MM
The Ram family at table once more, Kat behind Wil, Shi some ways away – F LL
Danyal, who as he eats, coughs, and then speaks – F M
Danyal – Yes, you all should know a crown agent will arrive in the coming days, we've taken measures that he will not be upset with our running of things, so behave.
Cen, with pastries and cream before her, looks from her father to her brother and back again – F M
Cen – But father, why has the crown seen fit to pry?
Danyal – [F M] Routine dear, nothing more. [he stuffs himself with fish, ignant]
Jesp – [F M] It's nothing I'm sure. We've had state wardens, state premiers, state kounslors and all other kinds of nonsense over the years.
Wil, who is given the head of a herring (sans gills), which he eats whole – F LM
Shi, who shuffles with nerves a moment – F MB
Wil, who goes on chewing, swallows, and then speaks – F M
Wil – That state gives us our place in this world mother, I'm surprised you pan it so.
Danyal – [F M] Pansies, curtain-wearing pansies.
Jesp – [F M] Your father's father headed this valley and your son's son will do the same. [her eyes flash doubt]
Cen – [F M, having drank cream] Why ever would things change now?
Wil – [F L] Oh, I know not. [a pause of the sound of his family eating] May I be excused?
Danyal – [his voice muffled by being behind shot] Yes, yes.
Kat pulls back Wil's chair, lifts him, and leaves.
Kat pushing Wil in a wheelchair along the course of the ants – L SM
Kat pushing Wil in the square, where the boy was shot, the stain of him still present – L LM
Kat pushing Wil past the alleyway where he was found – L MM
Kat pushing Wil from inside the doorway of a peasant house – L MM
Kat pushing Wil past the drying pits – L LM
Kat pushing Wil past the fields of wheat – L LM
Kat pushing Wil to the edge of the Ram domain, and then stopping before the camera, the unfocused imge of the town and the house at the head of the valley in sight. Wil flicks his head and Kat turns around and goes back the way he came. Voiceover of another scene as they return – F L
Danyal – A good year, son, and when it is right for you you'll share in the crop.
Wil (15) – [pause] When will it be right, father?
Danyal – [mumbles unsure] Oh... you'll know... yes, you'll know when it comes... yes.
Wil being pushed by Kat – F S T
Wil – I'll know, he says. [pause, schemes evident on his face] Father is thrifty and at times wise, but he errs more than most fools, and has no excuse.
Voiceover of another scene, the sound of drunken clapping.
Jesp (37) – [to company] Beauteous child, beauteous. Angels weep.
Sounds of agreement
Wil (12) sat before a party having sung – F M
Jesp – [drunken] The powers saw to give him wings!
Sisa – But erred and gave him flippers instead. [Wil, hurt]
The party's loathing
Jesp – Shameful girl, you lament that you lack talent.
Sisa, hurt – F M
Danyal – Worth nothing, foul beside her sister, useless to her brother, burden to her parents.
The party's drunken mixed response
Danyal, musing on his daughter, who he has raped – F M
Wil [the present] – And not even good to fuck. Surely, surely we're better off.
Kat pushing Wil past the fields of wheat – R M
Wil – Meek, I think, like mother. But strong, I think, like folk I've not met. Averse to stoop as we have, too weak to bear us as a pariah.
Kat pushing Wil past the drying pits. Schubert's string quartet in e flat major fades in slowly – L MM
Wil – I loved her, if I am able, and was aware I was subject to her wrath fore the praise poured on me, undue.
Kat pushing Wil past the alleyway where the boy was found – R MM
Wil - Why, Wilyan, do you grudge folk as mortals, living and dying as you do, to incur only ire?
Kat pushing Wil in the square, where the boy was shot, the stain no longer present – R L
Wil – Do they not breathe the same air, drink the same water, wear cloth and age?
Kat pushing Wil in along the course of the ants, the line broken once more – R S
Wil – Feel the sun, flee the rain, cower before toothed clawed things whose maws mash flesh and bone alike.
Kat pushing Wil uphill – F S T
Wil – Am I not that thing? And would I not flee, flail helpless and useless when faced with such a thing? [pause] Surely. Such is the way.
They come onto the grounds, through the lesser gate. When in clear shot Wil sighs – L M
Wil – The air is much nicer here. [he turns behind him to look at Kat]
Kat – Yes sir. [Wil turns ahead, unsure if he has received a response]
The view from the gate, the camera rises, the music crests, fade out – F LL P
The outside of the kennel, the screaming of a girl being eaten alive by dogs – F LM
Wil face down on a massage bed having his back worked by a faceless girl – L LM
The lowest cellar door – F CB -
Cen in her bedorom before a mirror naked, rotating, looking at her body with minor concern - FL MM
The lowest cellar door – F SB -
Danyal stood at his study window looking out over the town – L SM
The lowest cellar door – F MB -
Jesp's face staring into nothing, caught in horror – FL CM
The lowest cellar door – F LB -
Jesp sat at her chair, she shakes her head and continues reading her tablet – L LM
Medium pause on black
The servants climbing the hill to the house – R LB
Wil sat on the toilet, he leans back when emptying his bowels, strains once more but is done. Nods his head and Kat enters shot - F ML
Jesp sat at a chaise longue shaving her legs – BR SM
Danyal brushing his teeth before a bathroom mirror, brushes his tongue – F SM
Cen plucking fine hairs at the corners of her mouth before a dressing table – BL CM
Lufka's walking stick tapping the ground 2 times – R CB T
Sisa, 12, stood wearing a nightdress, holding a needle and thread – F MB
The empty toilet, white porcelain, romanesque scrolls, the tiling at it's rear pastel white and blue – F MB
The chase longue, upholstered with red and gold brocade, red wood in patterns of the orient – L MB
The mirror, it's border twisting pillars that split to vines at their ends, carved of caucasian spruce – F MB
The dressing table, rosewood, round in shape, simple two-sided peaking bombé, well-lacquered – F MB
The women spinning thread – F MB
A tablet screen, Danyal's hands. He is viewing a map of his manor, reft sections of much sizes in various clours. There is then an alert and he moves to the finance section - FTR SL
Shi going left through halls – R LB
Shi with Ven in the foyer – R LB
Ven going left through halls – R LB
Ven going upstairs – B LB
Ven stood at the doorway of Cen's room – TB MB
Ven going downstairs – F SB
Ven going right through halls – L SB
Shi going right through halls – L CB
A tablet screen, Danyal's hands. He is viewing dining tables - FTR SM
A massive pine dining table with ivory inlay in a market – F MM
A drone and human working to pack the table into a truck – R MB
The truck on a motorway – L LB
A man asleep in the truck as it drives – TR MB
The truck and the man lowering the table at the domain gate – RB MB
The townfolk walking right past the fields – L LB
The townfolk lifting the table in unison – B MM
The townfolk hauling the table left past the fields – R LB
The townfolk hauling the table through the town from where the men stand – L MB
The townfolk hauling the table up the hill – BL LB
The townfolk struggling for the table come to rest gently in the Ram yard as Danyal watches, barking commands – F LB
Danyal beating an older man with a bending cane behind the table, which is in focus – L MB
Shi going left through halls – R MB
Shi with Ven in the foyer – R MB
Ven going left through halls – R MB
Ven climbing stairs – B MB
Ven stood at the door of Cen's sitting room – B S
Cen – Come in.
Shot keeps on Cen moving into the room, and pans right as Ven closes the door, eclipsed
Cen – [F S] My table has arrived.
Ven – [F S] Yes miss.
Cen – [Room shot] It's lovely I'm sure.
Ven – [pause] Yes miss.
Cen – [F C] You're very pretty... aren't you?
Ven – [F C] [She does not know what to say] Thank you.
Cen – [Room shot] It was a question. Come here. [Ven approaches, coming into shot, and stands near to Cen, who is sat. She stands and looks Ven over] Oh yes, so pretty. [Camera pans left] Turn for me. [Ven does so, without grace] Slower, let me look [A flirtatious tone, Ven turns again, slower] Almost, again [Cen lifts Ven's arms and slows her, she looks like a dancer on a music box]
The pleasure of a child that mostly gets what it wants – F CM
Cen's hands near Ven's waist as she turns, the hand rises, and as hair passes it the hand grips. The dog barks – FL CM T
Cen drags Ven down by her hair, reaches to her table and cuts her hair with a knife. As Ven reaches up to stop this her hand is stabbed, her body recoils, which has her hair pull, which jerks her neck, her body caught between pain and tension – F M
Cen sat at her table, tying up the jagged and uneven hair with a black ribbon. The dog is silent – L SM
Cen sat at her table, Ven stands at the door of the room, her hand in a blooded rag, her hair short and uneven – F S
Cen – Take this to mother and have a wig made. [Ven steps forward and Cen holds it out behind her to be taken]
Ven walking downstairs – F LM
Ven walking right through halls – L LM
Ven with Shi, she breaks down and cries before him, who is cool towards her – L LM
Shi walking left through halls holding the ribboned locks – R LB
Shi knocking at Jesp's door – LB M
Jesp – Come in.
Danyal staring at his toilet – L MC
The tired eyes of a man for whom there is never enough – F CB
The Ram's at their new dining table, everyone in their usual place – F L
Cen – It's lovely, simply lovely. [She looks down at her dog] Simply lovely!
Wil – [F S] A needless excess.
Cen – [F M] Because I wanted it?
Wil – [F M] Yes. What's to be done with the old?
Men smashing the old table outside the Ram gates – R LB
Men hauling the pieces of wood down the hill – L LB
The misting breath of a cold child – R CB
A shard of lacquered wood, then cast into the hearth, smoking. A child coughs – F CM
The whole table once more – F M
Wil – You spoil them, the old piece would have suited any number of spurned rooms.
Jesp – [F S] To what end?
Wil wearing a baffled look, sif the keeping of a thing, for a use or none, were an innate good – F SB
The whole table – F M
Danyal – Your mother tells me you wish to have a wig made.
Shi, looking at Danyal – F C
Cen – Oh yes, her hair was so lovely, I wanted to share in it. [Shi's face betrays the fact he knows Ven was told to bring the hair to Jesp herself. As a broken man, for him it is a profound moment of conscience]
Danyal – [F C] Be that as it may, you injured valued staff. Her hand forbays her from working and will hinder her for some time.
Cen, playful guilt – F SM
Cen, sat at table once more, wearing her new wig – B SM
The whole table once again – F L
Cen – It's lovely, lovely!
Ven, hair cut short, resigned – F CM
The leaking room of a town family – B FR MM
Downpour from the hill – T F LM
The rain from the greenhouse, Wil sat by passionflower watching. Voiceover – BR S -
Wil – Winter's hard in the country. I spent time in the city and all live well there, as far as I can tell. It was strange to me. [Downpour from the hill, panning downhill - T F L P] How can this nation, so wealthy, consign so much to squalor? [The leaking room of a town family – B FL M +] My lot depends on this so I hold no gripe, [A herdsman with his cows on a hard day – FR M] and as the herder shan't grudge the four legs of the cattle whilst he stands on two, all I can do is shout and prod as needs be. [Kat stood before Wil's bookcase, reading from a book aloud. Bach's 'Air' plays – F M +] That as my days wile away, the passions and healths of my kin ebb and flow, [Dry Georgian hills – FL L] as the rain yields to parched Earth and that same dirt [A series of smoking men– F C P] drinks thirstily when the season comes, [A faceless village girl sat on Wil's face – B M -] so must I endure my lot, and enjoy my lot. [The nostrils of Lufka as he breathes – F C] To know the pains only I can know, [dogs in the kennels eating human – F M -] and to feel for the pains of others which I cannot. [Abwe digging soil – FR M] To work, [Teta chopping beef – F S] to feed, [Shi stood aside as Danyal feasts – B M P] to serve, [Fea, looking deeply ill – F S] to pine. [Music ends, Wil in the vaulted room tied to a frame so that he is pulled back as far as he can be, looking up at the ceiling, light streaming in among dust – L L +] Oh sublime being, all that is, such fortune I am gifted. [Wil before a birdcage, he speaks, but the birdsong drowns him and there are subtitles – F S] All is right with the world.
Kat – [F M] [He cannot hear Wil and so strains, pauses, then speaks] Sorry, sir?
Cen walking past servants as they arrange things in the drawing room, looking at their hair – F MM T
Jesp's face, turned right, as she is prone, fucked by her husband, unmoved - F MM
Shi sat in his room, whose door is part of the wall, at a spartan table eating a light meal, which he pushes away, abridged – L MM
Abwe, naked, filthy, sat stooped in a dark room with a low sloping ceiling – F MM
Kat, laying on the cold stone ground, breathing slowly – R MM
Wil in a traction collar, his body completely suspended – F LM
The beam from which Will is suspended, the gentle twisting of cord – FR CM
Grapes on the vine, ripe and sweet – B F SM
Vineyard, pickers at work – F LM
The shearing of a cluster – FR CB
Men carrying crates of grapes in less than ideal settings – L LM
A man choosing grapes on the basis of sweetness as stripping takes place in the background – R SM
Women crushing grapes by foot – F MM
Yeast added to the must, which steams – T F SB
A woman stirring the must in fast motion – F MB
Must draining in fast motion – T SB
Must returned to vat in fast motion – F MB
A woman stirring the must in fast motion – FR MB
A woman stirring the must in fast motion – FL MB
Free-run released – R CB
Two months over the course of 4 seconds, camera pans around the storage vat – FL MM PT
Our wine being bottled and corked by hand – BL MM
A woman labelling our bottle – FL MB
Men hauling wine crates up the hill – R LM
A servant puts down a heavy wine crate in the cellar, finds our bottle's place and puts it there – R LL
The bottle in question, stood on the Ram's dining table – F SM
Danyal before a finished meal, much wasted. He lift, swirls, and smells a glass of wine – F M
Danyal – The best sweet wine we have. Please, have a glass.
Lufka before an empty place, stoic – F M
Lufka – No.
Danyal, aloof, swirling and drinking wine – F MB
Lufka – [F M] [Pause] Do you know why I am here?
Danyal – [F M] Not at all. [He turns and calls Shi, his glass is almost empty] Cake. [We hear Shi leave the hall]
Lufka – [F S] I am tasked with a probe of the heading of the Keastpu domain of the Alzan Valley by the Ram family and it's chief, Danyal Keast Ram, yourself.
Danyal – [F M] [Filling his wine glass, not concerned, focused on pouring rightly] Mm.
Lufka – [F M] Among the charges are abuse of station, neglect of duty, theft of grants, theft of assets, [Danyal, drinking long draughts – F M] account fraud, false teachings, prompting and authoring of social vice, [Cake carried by Shi through halls to table, passing Lufka and coming to Danyal – L S T] the exchange of controlled items, skirting and thwarting justice, forging legal reports, forging legal permits, undue sanction, sanction without trial, slavery, rape of adults, rape of children, torture, murder, [F S] and lifestyle excess.
Danyal – [F S] [Eating cake with as much restraint as he can muster] Mm. [Eats, swallows] So... not routine then?
Lufka – [F S] No.
Danyal – [B F S] [Puts down his fork] We can work this out between us. What does an envoy make?
Lufka – [F S] I am a doyen, Mr Ram, not an envoy, not a consul, not a steward. Take my presence here gravely, I am not a friendly face.
Danyal – [F L] Hm.
The cake, a forkful taken as needed –T F C
Lufka – I am authrised to witness all facets of function and heading. I will begin with your accounts, the household contents and staff, and will then turn to the folk starting with issuance and ending with the town itself. Please get your affairs in order, we commence next day.