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7d 1938 THE SLUT AND THE PRIEST
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A hotel room in Vienna, 1938, shortly before the Anschluss.
Alma and father Johannes Hollnsteiner lying in bed.
HOLLNSTEINER Manon
Gropius blossomed like an exceedingly beautiful flower. She
passed through life with the purity of an angel. To many she
personified happiness and love. To those who knew her best
she was the epitome of a sunny disposition and a joy for life.
A year of grave suffering matured her, so that for her more
than most , the following words from the bible are appropriate:
"An early death, but full of wisdom". Manon was
mature and thus the Lord, in whom she believed, who was her
support and sustenance, has taken her into His Kingdom in
the year of her suffering and maturing. She has not died.
She has gone home with an open gaze. The eyes free from suffering
and pain, the lips forming the smile so familiar to all of
us, who had the privilege of being with her. She has entered
into His Kingdom on the Holy Day of Love and Resurrection.
The Divine Conqueror of death and need has taken her into
the Kingdom of which is written: "Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard the things which God has prepared for them that
love him". Now as a token of our profoundest bond with
Manon Gropius let us pray in Christian Fellowship.
ALMA Holy,
hey Holy!
HOLLNSTEINER I
asked you not to call me that.
ALMA What's
wrong with „Holy “?
HOLLNSTEINER First
of all, it sounds English.
ALMA What's
wrong with English?
HOLLNSTEINER It
is a decadent, degenerate language.
ALMA English
is a degenerate language?!
HOLLNSTEINER „Holy“
doesn't only sound English. It sounds American. Even Jewish
American. Like Hollywood.
ALMA Can't
you see the two of us in Hollywood?
HOLLNSTEINER Are
you crazy?
ALMA Come
on. Dream a little.
HOLLNSTEINER What?!
ALMA Dream!
Try to dream! Don't you have any dreams?
HOLLNSTEINER I
have a dream. I even have a dream full of great longing, but
it will never come true .. But it's worth dreaming it all
the same
ALMA Tell
me your dream, Holy.
HOLLNSTEINER Don't
call me Holy !
ALMA All
right, come on, tell me your dream.
HOLLNSTEINER In
my dream I see Austria becoming the true, pure German state.
The cradle of a new race. The new Holy Roman Empire.
ALMA Oh,
your dreams are so dull, Holy!
HOLLNSTEINER „Holy
“?! If you say „Holy “ one more time, I'm leaving.
ALMA Calm
down, calm down!
HOLLNSTEINER I
know why you call me „Holy “. It's because of what
it means in English.
ALMA English
again!
HOLLNSTEINER You
do it to remind me that I have broken my oath of celibacy.
That I have betrayed the Church for you. That I am a false,
sinful priest, and no longer a holy person.
ALMA You
are a holy person, Holy. For me you are, and you will always
be. Ever since the day you delivered that marvellous speech
on Manon's grave. I loved every word you said about my poor
little only child. You made her immortal! I will never forget
that you did that!
HOLLNSTEINER She
wasn't your only child.
ALMA She
was.
HOLLNSTEINER Anna
Mahler is still alive.
ALMA Anna
has mixed blood. She's half Jewish. Manon was my only thoroughbred
Aryan child. And you found the right, inspired words to describe
her. In your eulogy, you rendered her immortal, that angel.
That's why I fell in love with you, Holy.
HOLLNSTEINER Please,
I beseech you, don't call me “Holy”.
ALMA I will,
Holy. And there is nothing wrong with the English connotation
of the word. On the contrary. It is precisely at the sacred
climax of our carnal union, when you touch that secret point
deep down inside me with the tender tip of your powerful staff,
that I feel most strongly that you really are a Holyman.
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
oh Alma!…. (He sighs with passion and desire)
ALMA I have
a dream… In my dream I see the two of us in Hollywood.
Yes, in Hollywood, Holy! Your associations were right. Because
that is where the two of us belong, Holy! Look at us: we are
beautiful, the two of us. And pure-breds too. We belong in
a Hollywood film.
HOLLNSTEINER Oh,
Alma!….
ALMA Don't
you think our love story is worthy of an bigger than life
Hollywood film? „The Priest and the Maiden“. Or
„The Butterfly And The Priest“. I can see Katharine
Hepburn playing me, with Clark Gable playing your part. Werfel
could write the script.
HOLLNSTEINER Alma!
Please, please, please!
ALMA I can
see my Franz writing a novel on the subject. say, that's not
such a bad idea! I should talk to him about it.
HOLLNSTEINER No,
you won't!
ALMA Why
not? You think our affair isn't worthy of a novel? It could
be much better and more sensational than Lady Chatterley's
Lover. I could feed Franz all the details ---
HOLLNSTEINER You
will not do that!
ALMA Why
not? I think it's time for German literature to start including
precise descriptions of sexual acts. I will talk to Franz.
HOLLNSTEINER I
forbid you to do it.
ALMA You
forbid me?! My poor Holyman! The man who can forbid me to
do what I want hasn't been born yet.
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
this isn't just about you. It's about me too!
ALMA Are
you ashamed of what you do to me when we make love?
HOLLNSTEINER No,
but it's nobody's business. Least of all your poor husband
-
ALMA Don't
you ever dare call Franz Werfel my "poor husband "!
HOLLNSTEINER What
would you call him then?
ALMA First
of all, being my husband, he is not a poor. I have chosen
him. He is the Happiest of Men, because I love him. Do You
think my heart is so small that there is only enough room
for one man there?
HOLLNSTEINER I
thought you were giving yourself totally to me.
ALMA When
I am with you, I give myself totally to you, but when I am
with Franz, I give myself totally to Franz. And do you know
something? When I return to Franz, after being with you, I
am so passionate and full of desire that it spills over on
him, ha ha! And he's almost grateful for it, Ha ha! I think
that's one of the reasons he likes you - a little…
HOLLNSTEINER Werfel
knows about us?!
ALMA What
kind of a question is that?
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
don't toy with my nerves! This is crucial! Does he or doesn't
he know what has been going on between the two of us?
ALMA How
should I know what he knows?
HOLLNSTEINER Have
you told him?
ALMA Well,
that at least s a more precise question.
HOLLNSTEINER Answer
me !
ALMA Have
I told him what?
HOLLNSTEINER You
know what.
ALMA No,
I don't know what you have on your mind.
HOLLNSTEINER Why
do you torture me?
ALMA My dear
Holy, things in our world have names. You want to talk about
something, name it.
HOLLNSTEINER Why
are you doing this to me?
ALMA Be a
man! Call your actions by their names. It's about time you
started. We live in 1938, not in 1338, thank goodness!
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
have you told Werfel about us?
ALMA What
about us exactly? That I was the first woman in your life?
HOLLNSTEINER Alma!
ALMA That
I taught you how to hold a woman in your arms, how to kiss…
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
don't ---
ALMA …how
to fondle my breasts, how to suck and bite my nipples until
I lose control ---
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
please --- Please!!!
ALMA That
I was the first woman to unbutton your trousers, to caress
your holiness with the tips of my fingers and to take your
bulging prick in my hand…
HOLLNSTEINER Please,
don't!!! Oh no!!
ALMA …
and put it into my mouth before finally pulling it down into
holy oblivion?
Burning with passion, Hollnsteiner throws himself on her,
but she pushes him away.
ALMA No,
my dear, tell me what is it you want to knowwhether I told
Werfel?
HOLLNSTEINER Did
you tell him we're lovers?
ALMA "Lovers"?
Is that all you can bring yourself to say about us?
HOLLNSTEINER Did
you or didn't you?
ALMA When
I first became aware of what you were doing to me, I couldn't
believe my eyes. Me, a woman in her late fifties, suddenly
losing touch with the ground under my feet, like a sixteen-year-old
girl - not knowing any more where I was or what was happening
inside me. And you talk about "lovers"! - Good God!
Why are men so senseless?
HOLLNSTEINER That's
not fair ! You know damn well what I risk every time I meet
you.
ALMA What
do you risk? Your false existence as a priest?
HOLLNSTEINER I
believe in my principles!
ALMA You
do? Do you believe in your love? Do you believe in your passion?
HOLLNSTEINER I
do!
ALMA Do you
believe that God brought us together to consummate our sacred
love?
HOLLNSTEINER Yes,
I do believe. !
ALMA In God,
the Almighty?
HOLLNSTEINER In
God, the Almighty.
ALMA Creator
of heaven and earth?
HOLLNSTEINER Creator
of heaven and earth.
ALMA And
in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son?
HOLLNSTEINER And
in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son.
ALMA Conceived
by the Virgin Mary?
HOLLNSTEINER Conceived
by the Virgin Mary…
ALMA Who
saw her son crucified and buried?
HOLLNSTEINER Who
saw her son crucified and buried…
ALMA her
son who rose from the dead on the third day?
HOLLNSTEINER her
son who rose from the dead on the third day…! - (excitedly:)
Oh Alma, you're wonderful!!! Men have composed for you, painted
for you, but never has anyone read mass for you.
ALMA You
really don't know what a woman is.
HOLLNSTEINER No,
I don't.
ALMA How
dare you say that after being with me! Go, go away.
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
please ----
ALMA No,
leave me alone. Don't touch me! That is the biggest insult
anyone ever dared utter to me.
HOLLNSTEINER Alma,
please, forgive me….
ALMA To say
you don't know what a woman is - after I gave you all I have!
My soul, my feelings, my passion, my experience, my body -
and you say you don't know what a woman is ….
HOLLNSTEINER I
know.
ALMA What
do you know?
HOLLNSTEINER I
know now what a woman is.
ALMA Really?
HOLLNSTEINER Yes.
A woman. The embodiment of woman.
ALMA Then
tell me !
HOLLNSTEINER The
embodiment of woman .... is you!
ALMA Oh,
how charming!
HOLLNSTEINER You
want me to go on ? After all, you're the reason know what
a woman is, and I'll never have a comparison. You are the
first and you'll be the last.
ALMA I hope
so.
HOLLNSTEINER A
woman… You want to know what a woman is? Who can ever
recount all the falsehoods, all the tricks and schemes she
plots, a woman, her non-stop bargaining, her recklessness,
the tears she can shed so easily, a woman, her fickleness,
her impudence, her immodesty, her tireless verbosity, her
intrigues, her forgetfulness, her malevolence, her ingratitude,
her slippery cunning, her ability to say one thing and its
opposite in one breath, a woman! Her moodiness and her unexpected
twists and turns, her pretence and arrogance, her pride and
false humility, her base submissions, her chattiness and gossip,
her sluttishness and witchery, her lies, her contempt, her
slandering, her vulgarity, her readiness to use all possible
means to achieve her goal, a woman! Her irrationality, her
lack of remorse over her evil deeds. She will privately pleasure
you one moment, only to slander you in public the next. Oh
what a plague, what a short stay in paradise for a lifelong
sojourn in hell! What misery it is for a man to fall into
a woman's clutches, and then to have to remain involved with
her for any longer than the short burst of time that she holds
him inside her body and buries him in her womb!
ALMA Oh Holy-,
that's the most beautiful declaration of love anyone's ever
made to me! I love you! (she opens her arms) Holy, do with
me, do with us whatever you want!
HOLLNSTEINER Come
on, Alma, come with me. I'm going to take you to Hollywood...
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