World In My Eye, Damien All Over

"Watch It Here First" or "World In My Eye"  

Nemo, a thirty-something, has a couple of hours to kill before picking up a blood-test result at a hospital. Rather than waiting there, he decides to go and watch a film to pass the time. The movie's plot shows a man discovering his wife "in flagrante delicto": one of these cheap 70s style naughty Italian farcical comedies with A. Sordi (“title “I don’t believe it!!”); he enjoys it innocently.

Coming home, he discovers his wife in bed with someone (camera movements reproducing those from the movie he went to see). A bit shaken, he walks out discreetly without making himself heard; drives around aimlessly; ends up back at the cinema (the advertising slogan reads: "Take your mind off life - Cinema: better than the real thing!"). He goes in and watches another crap film which doesn't start too badly (cue brief sequences and snippets of dialogue) until it gets to some scene in which a wife is leaving her husband, claiming that she never loved him, he was crap in bed and so on. Once more, the film displays all the clichés possible, no stereotype / hackneyed one-liner left forgotten. He can't take it, and leaves abruptly.

He goes back home innocently as if nothing had happened (...) Nemo is stunned. "...Why?" asks he the empty living-room, confronted by a poster of Killing Joke.

Next day, he comes to terms with the situation; tries to make sense of it, going over her damning remarks; convinces himself that maybe it's all for the best, maybe he has been guilty of neglecting her lately, it could genuinely be his fault, maybe it's time to take stock, whatever..."All things happen for a reason" he ventures after a few drinks (cf. ...). Nemo settles down to watch TV absent-mindedly with a few drinks. A film is on, in which someone's uncle has died, leaving the hero a fortune to be collected. The phone rings: Nemo is informed that a distant uncle of his has just died in Nigeria, and has bequeathed him a house in the absence of any other heir. As our hero expresses mixed feelings about the news (condolences, but also secret joy at his sudden good fortune), the camera reveals what is going on in the televised film in the background: the fictional hero runs into trouble. (...) He then goes back to his film, where the hero's inherited money turns out to be Mafia laundered, which gets him into all sorts of scraps. Figments of dialogue reach us that detail the plot, but Nemo is too distracted to follow the story properly. He gets up and starts packing for his forthcoming trip midway through the film. (Either he switches off the telly or the movie continues without him in the living room.)

The next day Nemo travels to his deceased uncle's UK house: could be Scotland? (...). The local lawyer (Bill Murray?) welcomes him with a smirk: explains that the area –“as he surely knows” (i.e. he is perfectly aware that outsider Nemo has never set foot here)- has been in economic terminal decline (...). During their conversation, we understand that Nemo used to work on his father's farm that went bankrupt after one of the government's schemes which they endorsed was abandoned (cf. the Tories’ promised subsidies for solar panels).

Back to a local hotel. (...) As he chats to the secretary and recounts the events leading up to his decision to forfeit the rights to his uncle's house, he -at long last- realises that all his latest tribulations seem to have been foretold.

He finds it funny, and then is not so sure. Nemo glances at the TV, perplexed. He hesitantly switches on the telly in his hotel room: a spy story is on, in which a character answers a knock on the door in his hotel room, goes to peek at the eye-hole, and gets stabbed through the eye. Knock on Nemo's door. Nemo freezes, and (...). He throws away the remote control, a bit shaken. Spends the night glancing, scared, at the silent screen.

Next day, he peruses the (local) newspaper during breakfast at the inn: road accidents statistics; "Hmm... nope, I don't think so." He quickly turns the page, doesn't want to read about that ! He comes across a rag-to-riches story: "Aaah, that's better..." He settles down to enjoy it. The story, as indicated by the headline, goes like this: some nobody lost everything, then won a fortune at the Lottery. "Hmm..." he day-dreams, could this apply to him? A short sequence illustrates his thoughts: in a way, he did lose his status what with his wife's leaving him. His gaze wanders around the counter, looking for something; makes out the Lottery sign across the road at the cornershop. They ran out of tickets there, so he buys scratch-cards instead: to no avail. Furious, he curses: he has wasted his money! But then looks at it from a different perspective: after all, his re-enactment wasn't valid. "Not conclusive", he decides with a sigh of relief.

He drives off. Sees advertising on the roadside for wonder-bras. Idly looks at female motorist waiting at the traffic light level with him. "Pervert !" she snaps and drives off. He laughs it off, but can't help wondering: everything around him seems to be taking on a special significance. Or maybe is it just fiction? He switches on the radio: the various songs coming on all remind him of his situation (heart-breaks, someone down on his luck, misplaced optimism, etc.). He turns it off, annoyed (and a little bit fearful).

Back home, he plonks himself down on his sofa to watch TV avidly: an Aussie soap opera is on, featuring a relative returning from abroad (is it him, he wonders? Checks his reflection in a mirror and compares it to the actor... he is not convinced); then the story introduces a (recent) divorcee (that must be him, he decides: "Divorce? Check!"); then another actor vaguely resembling him ("Hang on, which one am I then?"); then another possible double... The characters exchange points of view which all somehow correspond to his. (...) Gets increasingly confused as he tries to keep tabs on the three characters. Changes channel. Catches the end of a sentence "...and this is how you managed to beat your incredible bad luck, well done." Sadly this current affairs discussion programme comes to an end (announcer thanks everyone, “I’m afraid this is all we have time for” etc.). Nemo swears: that must have been it, the one which should have sorted him out! ...Or maybe the next programme will give him a vital clue as to the rest of his adventures? Or is he simply going crazy. Nemo waits through the ads, scrutinising them (...)

One of these romantic comedies a la "Electric Dreams" / "Can't Buy Me Love" is next. Predictably, he meets a similarly attractive (i.e. out of his league) woman who incredibly responds to his advances (which he rehashes from the featured movie). She suggests going on a date to the cinema. He accepts, even though this contradicts his plans. They go check what is on. Nemo flinches at the titles on show (to be determined). She would like to see (...) …wearing the same clothes / haircuts as ...

He phones a friend to explain what is going on. His mate Noam, chuckling: "Ha ! You country people eh... Come to the big city and you lose your bearings... Sounds to me like you need a reality check here." "Nemo is not much impressed with his mate’s (platitudes laden) reply and starts telling off until he catches himself. Decides to switch off the telly, sits down to enjoy his meal. The food has gone cold by then.

 (…)

Back at the house, middle of the night. We see Nemo, still on his sofa, still in his overcoat, munching on biscuits and eating cold food out of a tin, religiously watching TV, bathing in its dead grey light. Soundtracks full of genuine film lines open to interpretation. Then he zaps to a scene in which a motorist gets into scraps with some low-lifes,  and dies as a result.

Nemo shakes himself up and comments "So be it… there's only one way". He gets in his car, drives off on the prowl. We see him pull over and look offscreen. A smile lights up his face as he addresses someone to his right: "Excuse me, fellows...".

The End.

Comments: first of all, male or female protagonist? There is always (and that is one of the points of the film) a risk of over-interpreting everything, as if what / who is featured in a film is necessarily supposed to "stand for" something / someone else. The gender shouldn’t matter, then; the story could easily be adapted for a female héroine.

My original point was to reverse the usual "Frankenstein" principle in which an author has to cope with his creations come to life. This time, the ordeal is experienced from the (non responsible?) audience’s perspective: is the spectator caught in fiction, or isn't he engaged in creating his own fiction in order to validate / excuse his predicament?

Golden rule of sci-fi: ambiguity, it must never be totally clear whether Nemo is a victim of chance, coincidences, God or some mischievous deus-ex-machina -or is he simply guilty of over-interpreting random signs in relation to his own, unrelated, story? Is his part passive or active? Maybe Nemo is just losing his mind after the initial shock. ((Secret key to the whole story: he never returned to the hospital to pick up his unexplained blood-test result at the start of the story. Furthermore, he receives a letter from the hospital at some stage –which he doesn’t open either. Mystery here, that introduces a pathological element / possible mental health explanation.))

Variations on a theme: he tries to refuse his fate (switches TV off); tries to adapt it (scratch cards instead of proper Lottery tickets); submits to the signals (ending in the car-park), etc. Also, examples are no longer confined to cinema screen but invade other media, become less and less explicit. He has to decode / endow them with more meaning in order to keep up with his own tribulations -which means that, in this perspective, he gains more control over his destiny. Various instances of superstitions subtly hinted at / mentioned on a continual basis: horoscopes, numerology, body-language, graphology, structuralism, determinist Marxism vs. (self-realisation) existentialism...

The story allows for a fun ride through the different fiction genres: cuckold comedies; action movies (of the wishful thinking kind where a “nobody” becomes a hero); drama; everyday life soap opera (with their storylines supposedly reflecting viewers reality). How these affect their audiences. The scenes featured: some of them could be shot for the occasion, with over-the-top acting and soap operas clichés; others could be carefully chosen from genuine films and edited so as to convey / reflect the point made by the protagonist’s story (which, in itself, is in “meta” keeping with the plot!): "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaids" style.

Possible scene in which he has to take a plane: checks which film they will be showing, decides to take a train instead.

On the subject of identification with fictitious characters, another process of meta-identification applies here: this film's very audience and Nemo! Boxes within boxes, mise en abyme. References to Candide: lycée Voltaire. Comedy: could be turned into a Jim Carrey vehicle (sort of "Truman" meets "Bruce").

Final track: Placebo-"Peeping Tom" or Sparklehorse: "Sunshine", depending on ending adopted. Copyright : Loïg Allix Thivend, first draft July 2001, last draft whenever.  Alternative titles: "Prediction" "The Egg Before The Hen" "Unfold Twofold".

Logline: fiction comes to life, uninvited. "The Truman Show" meets "Bruce Almighty". Copyright Loig  Allix Thivend summer 2001. Note: short version. 

"Damien All Over"

Young William Damien Something, son of a British lord, starts by killing his mother at birth. Sent to pension, he wrongly gets a maid / servant / woman teacher blamed for a trivial incident which he, air-headed and ignorant that he is, was responsible for. This sows grains of misogyny in his fellow pupils’ minds: maybe they all get punished by that female teacher as a result, and therefore turn their anger on her instead of him as they fail to realise what actually took place (i.e. they cloud their judgement with prejudices which they will adhere to, from now on).

After he fails his exams, his father sends him to spend some time in a pharmaceutical lab which he owns, where he accidentally mixes / spills some vials. Next thing we know, a mysterious epidemic is unleashed that kills off the elderly and ill-nourished. Only those with perfect health don't suffer. Still, his father sends him away for his protection, somewhere in Africa. Where he starts off a tribal war, by repeating an offside comment / offending his hosts. His father, convinced that the poor boy is cursed, has him flown back to England at great cost amidst scenes of racial genocide. ...But then, his pharmaceutical slash arms company stands to benefit from the conflict, he satisfactorily reflects.

The film to be punctuated by TV news: patronising, middle-class, presenters. On his return, Damien gets interviewed about the "situation out there" (nobody takes it seriously, “bunch of savages slaughtering each other regularly”, that sort of attitude). He suggests that, maybe, a good little "nuking" would do the trick once and for all. Played on prime-timeTV, this remark gives US generals ideas... The public opinion swings in favour of eradicating such tribal warfare "for their own good", giving these former colonies a real new start ("tabula rasa", wisely opine ideologue egg-heads), and ultimately reinstating a Protectorate / Dominion under the supervision of Western troops sent to "re-establish order and civilisation".

Meanwhile, Damien has become a rent-a-quote celeb on the strength of his remark: demagogic talk-show hosts invite him for more of the same (Howard Stern style, or –update!- Katie Hopkins in the UK); football supporters adopt him as a white-race "poster boy" (chantings, nasty T-shirts); papers concoct "exclusive revelations" front page headlines (complete with made-up "close sources claimed yesterday that..."), make up an idyll with an idiotic minor pop star (Sunday papers' sales explode). The Prime Minister, in trouble for the mess in that former African colony (caused of course in the first place by Damien), courts him for easy answers which Damien is all too ready to provide, flattered by the attention and utterly unable to measure the impact of his declarations. He is selected as a Tory candidate by a weasel P.A. spin doctor . 

The end.

Comments: Damien must not come across as necessarily nasty or explicitly loathsome, this would be too easy. He’s only ignorant; stupid; maybe also well-meaning in his own way (cf. "the roads to Hell are paved with good intentions"). What he represents is the colonial Western superpowers mentality that fouled up the rest of the world with economic oppression, arms sales and so on -and then blames "them savages" for not wising up cf. the Iraqi situation or, more recently (March 2002), a GB girl got eaten by a crocodile in an African lake... with this animal being a type of dwarf black crocodile that was actually shipped in by GB explorers! Damien continually totally misunderstands cultural, social, sexual, religious otherness "with hilarious consequence" (cf. Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey) …except that they're not fun for others at all.

They also get worse as the film goes on.

The film must be infuriatingly one-sided with no recourse for a (hackneyed) counterpart / foil / voice of reason (a la "Bob Roberts"). The other characters must be overwhelmingly all too satisfied with him as he continually reinforces their prejudices, whatever / whoever they are. The tone should be just slightly bitter at times, but mostly funny. After a while, no more need to point out the terrible consequences of his acts every time he does something or opens his mouth, The audience should just wait for the next news bulletin which will refer in passing to his terrible legacy. Our film should stand in contrast to "Forrest Gump", where everything is spelled out.

If possible, the events described should be modelled onto real ones as closely as possible; mostly on the subject of the various modes of exploitation inflicted upon the Third World.

Original copyright LoÏg Allix Thivend July 2000.

Logline: Modern day imperialistic "Gaston La Gaffe" character (i.e. who wrecks havoc wherever he goes): political comedy.