1964
Night
(Sister Jude in her car.)
(Inside a building: muffles talking, phone ringing. Sister Jude head towards a door and she knocks at it. Someone opens the door.)
Sister Jude: Mr. Goodman?
Goodman: Mr. Goodman was my father, alev hashalom. Please call me Sam. I am sorry we have to meet like this, but confidentiality is the heart and soul of my work.
Sister Jude: Yes, uh, Mother Claudia explained all that to me. She's the only one who knows I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. The monsignor, he thinks I've lost my mind, but I haven't. I, um I trust my instincts.
Goodman: Instincts are everything. We ignore them at our peril.
Sister Jude: Do I pay you for this?
Goodman: No, no, no, no. I don't do this for money. It's more of a calling.
Sister Jude: Did you lose someone?
(He shows the numbers tattooed to his arm.)
Goodman: Everyone. Is that for me?
Sister Jude: Um. (She gives him her files on Dr Arden.)
Goodman: Please sit.
Sister Jude: Thank you. He goes by the name Arden, but I believe his real name may be Gruper. He may have been an SS doctor. I mean, there's hardly anything at all in there. Um, just a home address, and even that my be a lie.
Goodman: Probably is a lie, all of it.
Sister Jude: What do you mean?
Goodman: Have you heard of Operation Paperclip? After the war, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency actively recruited the best Nazi scientists. To get around Truman's express orders to exclude Nazi supporters, they created false biographies for these men Forgive the question, but have you ever seen him without a shirt on?
Sister Jude: Me? Oh, no, no, never.
Goodman: SS have a tattoo of their blood type here. (arm) It's how they were easily identified by the Allied Forces after the liberation.
Sister Jude: Do I need to look for it?
Goodman: (quietly) No, no, no. In fact, don't do anything until I've completed my work. If he is who you suspect, the last thing you want to do is corner him.
Asylum
(Sister Jude's office, Sister Mary Eunice is searching. Anne brings Dr Arden and his gunshot leg into Sister Jude's office at gunpoint.)
Sister Mary Eunice: Dr. Arden?
Anne: Stop. You leave him there. Where's Sister Jude? I have to speak to her right away. This man is a monster. You should see what he's got in his office.
Dr Arden: Go, Sister.
Anne: I've waited so many years for this. I can wait a few more minutes.
Frank: (He's holding a gun on her.) Drop the gun, or I'll blow your goddamn head off.
-[OPENING CREDITS]-
(Anne wakes up in a straight jacket with Sister Jude at her bedside.)
Sister Jude: You put up a bit of a fight, I hear. You had to be sedated. Where did you get the gun, Anne?
Anne: I took it off one of those detectives. And it's a good thing I did. He would've killed me.
Sister Jude: Dr. Arden?
Anne: Gruper. Hans Gruper, I told you. He's a Nazi. The thing in his lab, - did you see it?
Sister Jude: What thing? Tell me, what do you think you saw?
Anne: Oh, God. He got rid of it before anyone could see.
Sister Jude: Dr. Arden was in no condition to do any such thing. When I arrived, he was being rushed to the hospital.
Anne: Good. I hope he dies.
Sister Jude: Now, come on, wake up. He's not going to die. He'll be back here and soon. Maybe with the police, maybe with the monsignor. You could end up on his operating table, and I out on the street, so before that happens, I want you to tell me what you think you saw.
Anne: Go and look.
Sister Jude: (We see Sister Jude in Dr Arden’s operating room.) We did look. Now, Frank says you claimed to have seen some sort of creature that was alive. Maybe it escaped on its own.
Anne: I doubt that, Sister. It had no legs.
Sister Mary Eunice: Sister Jude?
Sister Jude: Can't you see I'm busy?
Sister Mary Eunice: There's a man in your office.
Sister Jude: What man? Did he say what he wanted?
Sister Mary Eunice: His wife.
(A man gives Sister Jude picture of Anne with him and a baby.)
Brown: Her name is Charlotte. Charlotte Brown is her married name. She was born Charlotte Cohen. That's our son, David. He's a sweet little boy, but he has the colic. He cries five, six times a night. Nothing we can do to comfort him. It's enough to make anyone a little cuckoo, especially a woman as high-strung as Charlotte.
Sister Jude: (chuckles) Cuckoo. High-strung. How about world-class actress? She was very convincing, playing Anne Frank.
Brown: That's how it all started. She read the diary, and when she was eight months pregnant, we drove down to Boston to see a production of Anne Frank. Just sort of hit her in some personal way when she saw the play. I would say that people sometimes remark that she resembled Anne Frank. They were the same age.
Sister Jude: So, the tattoo on her arm?
(Flashback: Brown’s home)
Brown: Charlotte? What the hell are you doing? (She tattoos herself.)
(Flashback ends.)
Sister Jude: And all of this happened after a night in the theater?
Brown: No. It all started after we had the baby. She couldn't sleep because of the crying. She said it made her feel powerless. She began to turn a deaf ear, and then she began leaving the house and going to a library to read about Auschwitz. It's almost like she wanted to relive it. That she somehow could change the outcome. She'd go on about these babies who were gassed and tortured, and I'd ask her, "What about your own baby, Charlotte?"
(Flashback: Brown’s home. Baby crying.)
Brown: He doesn't want me. He wants you. He wants his mother.
Anne/Charlotte: I keep telling you, I can't help it! He's not the one who needs me. (She leaves the room.)
Brown: She'd come home with bags full of old newspapers, art supplies. She'd disappear into the den to work on her project. (Brown looks around Charlotte’s office. There are pictures and newspaper articles covering the wall.)
(Flashback ends.)
Dr Thredson: (from the doorstep) Sounds to me like a classic case of postpartum psychosis.
Sister Jude: How long have you been standing there, Dr. Butt-in-ski?
Dr Thredson: Long enough to make a pretty good diagnosis. The obsession, the manic behavior, the disconnection from her baby.
Brown: My wife isn't a psychotic. She's a very emotional person. She needs to come home.
Dr Thredson: I think that's dangerous.
Sister Jude: Did you hear what he said? The man wants his wife at home.
(Anne/Charlotte joins Sister Jude downstairs.)
Anne/Charlotte: They made me change my clothes, Sister Jude. Why do I have to wear this uncomfortable dress? I don't care for it anymore.
Sister Jude: It'll help make the transition easier.
Anne/Charlotte: You're letting me go?
Brown: Charlotte? My God, Charlotte. I've been looking for you.
Anne/Charlotte: My name is Anne.
Brown: Charlotte, it's time to come home.
Anne/Charlotte: Stay away from me. My name is Anne Frank. I'm a death camp survivor.
Brown: You're my wife and the mother of our baby. Now, please stop this and come home with me.
Anne/Charlotte: No! You don't know me. Sister Jude, you have to help me.
Sister Jude: I'm helping you, Charlotte. I'm trying to reunite you with your family.
Anne/Charlotte: What about Grouper? His crimes against humanity?
Sister Jude: No, no, go home. Go home.
(Brown gives Anne/Charlotte the picture of her with her son.)
Anne/Charlotte: It can't be. (The family photo seems to snap her to reality.)
Brown: David needs you.
Anne/Charlotte: My baby?
Brown: I need you. Everything's going to be all right. Okay? You'll see.
(Anne/Charlotte goes with her husband.)
(Door closes.)
Dr Thredson: You're making a mistake.
Sister Jude: (in the stairway)Forget about it, Doctor. It's none of our concern anymore.
Dr Thredson: Kit Walker is my concern. What's this barbaric rumor I hear about sterilization?
Sister Jude: It's not a rumor.
Dr Thredson: You're not a doctor. You have no right to authorize medical procedures without their consent.
(She lets him.)
Solitary Confinement hallway
(Grace and Kit speak through the wall separating their cell, vividly imagining that they are together.)
Kit: Are you afraid?
Grace: No.
Kit: I don't believe you. Alma and I always wanted kids. We always talked about having two or three. Always tomorrow.
Grace: And now there will be no tomorrow. For either of us.
Kit: I'm so sorry. I got us into this mess.
Grace: No. I don't regret what we did. There's no one to blame except Sister Jude. I think she's the devil.
(distant screaming, footsteps approaching, keys jangling)
(Sister Mary Eunice comes in Kit’s cell.)
Kit: Now?
Sister Mary Eunice: Yes. If you hurry, you might be able to have supper.
Kit: Supper? I thought you were taking me for the operation.
Sister Mary Eunice: No, Kit. Sister Jude changed her mind. She said you showed signs of true redemption. You're being released from solitary. Yay.
Kit: What about Grace?
Sister Mary Eunice: Oh, I haven't forgotten about her.
Grace: I can't believe you'll hear me say this, but I actually miss the food from the kitchen.
Sister Mary Eunice: Oh, you won't be eating tonight. No food for 12 hours before the procedure.
Grace: You said Sister Jude changed her mind.
Sister Mary Eunice: For Kit. Rest up, dear. You're going under the knife in the morning. You'll need your strength.
Grace: No. No, you can't do that! Let me out! Come back! Let me out! Let me out! Let me out! Someone!
(She creams.)
(In the middle of the night in her cell, Grace hears loud noises and sees a bright white light under her cell door. We see strange shape reflecting in her eye.)
In the common area
(Lana takes her meds.)
(♪ Dominique, nique, nique ♪
♪ S'en allait tout simplement, ♪
♪ Routier, pauvre et chantant ♪
♪ En tous chemins, en tous lieux, ♪
♪ Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu, ♪
♪ Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu ♪)
Dr Thredson: We're leaving right after dinner. Meet me by the front staircase at 6:00.
Lana: Is this real?
Dr Thredson: Don't be late.
Dr Thredson’s office
Dr Thredson: Kit. I'm sorry to keep you waiting.
Kit: Doc, you got to help Grace. Jude's going to sterilize her. It's not right.
Dr Thredson: Grace isn't my patient, Kit. You are. So, why don't we just concentrate on you and then I'll see what I can do for Grace. Deal? Have you given thought to what we discussed last time?
Kit: You want me to say I killed Alma and those other ladies.
Dr Thredson: Only if you believe it's true. You need to give yourself permission to remember. I think one way to do that is to hear it in your own words. I want you to describe what you think happened. Then I'll play it back for you so you can hear it in your own voice, with your own ears.
Kit: And if I do that, you're going to tell the courts that I should that I should stay here, and I-I won't go to the chair?
Dr Thredson: Yes. That is the bargain. But I need to feel you're sincere. (He sets up a reel to reel recorder to record Kit.)
Kit: My name is Kit Walker. And I murdered my wife.
Grace’s cell
(Grace wakes up covered in goo surrounded by white light on a table, she sees a pregnant woman.)
Alma: Don't fight it. It'll only make it worse.
Grace: Who is it? What are you?
Alma: My name is Alma.
(We see glimpses of green arms as Grace's belly is slit open and she screams.)
Sister Jude’s office
Sister Jude: (phone) Can you take down a message for Mr. Goodman? Goodman. Tell him it was all a mistake and that he should just go back home. I gave him the wrong information. No, the wrong information. Thanks. (She hangs up.) (Arden lurks in her doorway.)
Dr Arden: That information was that?
Sister Jude: It's not important.
Dr Arden: It sounded to me as if there was some juicy little tidbit stuck in your craw. Oh, come on, Sister, spit it up. You'll feel better.
Sister Jude: How's your leg?
Dr Arden: Please. Let's dispense with the small talk, shall we? You and I both know that, during my absence, you finally got a chance to stick your nose in my lab.
Sister Jude: A patient made a complaint. I was obliged to follow up.
Dr Arden: And?
Sister Jude: It wasn't all that interesting.
Dr Arden: I see. Do you mind? You should probably know that I plan on pressing charges.
Sister Jude: To what end? She's a confused young woman.
Dr Arden: No, not her. You. On your watch, that crazy bitch got a hold of a loaded gun, and you sent her home without so much as a slap on the wrist. Your ineptitude is staggering.
Sister Jude: Dr. Arden I know, in the past, you and I have had our differences, and you're certainly entitled to a… a sense of safety here. I hope, perhaps you and I can start afresh.
Dr Arden: Is that your idea of an apology?
Sister Jude: (chuckles) Is that what you're looking for-- an apology?
Dr Arden: No. I'd prefer you grovel. I think I'm entitled to it. Perhaps if you prostrated yourself on the floor and begged my forgiveness. No? Barring that, I have no other option but to call the monsignor and demand your dismissal. You're through here, Sister. And you know it. (He leaves.) (door closes)
Dr Arden’s office
(Dr Arden takes off his pants to dress his wound. Sister Mary Eunice comes in.)
Sister Mary Eunice: Let me do that.
Dr Arden: Sister! I didn't hear you.
Sister Mary Eunice: Now, now. It's all right, Arthur. You've nothing to be ashamed of. All the nuns here have had some training as nurses. Sit. I've been meaning to speak to you. I wanted to apologize for my behavior the night of the storm. It was untoward.
Dr Arden: What do you say we chalk it up to the barometric pressure and never speak of it again? I know what you did, Sister. Thank you for protecting me.
Sister Mary Eunice: Protecting us. (Flashback: We see Sister Mary Eunice cleaning out his lab.) Even though I don't fully understand your work, I feel I've been an important part of it.
Dr Arden: And so you have, my cherub. (Cut to her dragging legless Shelley out of his lab.)
(Flashback ends.)
Sister Mary Eunice: You'll be free to continue that work once Sister Jude has been turned out. The monsignor will put you in charge, and you'll need a strong right hand. Someone you can trust.
Dr Arden: I trust you completely. And I'm very impressed that you managed to get her out and into the woods all on your own.
Sister Mary Eunice: You'd be surprised. She weighed very little.
Playground
(School bell ringing. Children squealing playfully. Blows whistle.)
Teacher: Mikey Curtis, no monkey business!
(A little girl looks down a stairwell and starts screaming.)
Teacher: Peggy Cartwright, what on earth is the matter?
Peggy: There's a monster!
(Her class and teacher come look and sees legless, boil covered Shelley crawling up the stairs. They all run screaming.)
Asylum
(Charlotte's husband brings her back to the asylum. She screams as she's dragged away. Arden lurks.
Later, he visits her in solitary. She’s whimpering.)
Dr Arden: Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in. That didn't take very long now, did it?
Anne/Charlotte: Stay away from me.
Dr Arden: Not so tough without your gun.
(Door slams.)
Sister Jude’s office
Sister Jude: You didn't give it much of a chance.
Brown: I have to go to work. I'm afraid to leave her alone.
Sister Jude: It's a period of adjustment. I mean, you said yourself, a baby needs its mother.
Brown: A normal mother, yes! Charlotte's not normal! She's worse. At least before, she could tune out the crying. (Flashback, Brown’s home: baby crying) Charlotte? Do you want to hold your baby? (crying continues)
Anne/Charlotte: Yes, darling, why don't I do that?! (She broke her glass and leaves the room.)
Brown: (follow her)Hey, stop it! (Cut to him catching Charlotte trying to suffocate her child.) Are you insane?! (Flashback ends.)
Brown: I thought if I brought her home, she spent time with us, she'd remember who she was, see how much we need her. Please, Sister. You have to take her. I can't handle her.
Sister Jude: Isn't there some family that could stay with her?
Brown: She needs professional help, the care of a good doctor. Like the doctor that came in here and diagnosed her. He seemed to understand what she needed.
Sister Jude: Dr. Thredson? You're welcome to consult with him if that's what you want. Frank? Find Dr. Thredson, send him here.
Front staircase at 6:00
Dr. Thredson: Are you ready?
Lana: What's the plan? How do we do this? (Dr Thredson brings Lana a coat to put over her prison garb.)
Dr. Thredson: We'll walk out the door, we'll walk straight to my car. Do you understand?
Lana: What do you mean? How do we get past the guard?
Dr. Thredson: Like I said, walk. (He hands her a box to carry out.)
(They walk.)
Dr. Thredson: (to the guard) Night, Jimmy.
Frank: Dr. Thredson!
Hallway
(Charlotte's husband runs into Arden coming out of her solitary cell.)
Brown: Excuse me. What were you? (He watches his cane.) Dr. Arden?
Dr Arden: That's right.
Brown: Oh, my God. You're the you're the man my wife shot. Thank you for not pressing charges. She doesn't know what she was doing. She's out of her mind.
Dr Arden: Yes, I'm aware of that, Mr. Brown. But you needn't worry. I see no reason for punitive action. Not when there's a far more humane remedy at hand. As a matter of fact, we could do it tonight. Then she'll be home by tomorrow, a new woman.
Outside
(Frank finds Thredson putting things in his trunk. He doesn't see Lana sitting in the front seat.)
Frank: Dr. Thredson! Dr. Thredson, Sister Jude is asking for you. Anne Frank, or whoever she is, her husband brought her back.
(Trunk slams.)
Dr Thredson: I don't work here anymore, Frank. As a matter of fact, I never did. You can tell her I said that.
(Engine starts.)
Operating theater
(Brown watches as Arden prepares to do a transorbital lobotomy on Charlotte.)
Brown: Are you sure that this is safe?
Dr Arden: Not only safe, but highly effective. In my hands, the transorbital lobotomy has become as routine as filling a cavity.
Sister Jude’s office
(She prays on her knees.)
Sister Jude: Holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the patron of hopeless cases and things almost despaired of, pray for me, who am so miserable. Make use, I implore thee, of the particular privilege that is accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of.
(knocking)
Frank: Um, bad news. We searched everywhere. Lana Winters is nowhere to be found. I'm certain she's off grounds, Sister.
(She sighs.)
Sister Jude: You know, when I was a child, I'd come home after school to an empty house. My father had flown the coop, and my mother worked as a maid in a hotel. It was lonely, so I brought in a baby squirrel I'd found, and kept him in a shoebox. And then, one day, when I came home, he looked sickly. He was dead already, but I didn't know that. I'd forgotten to feed him for a couple days. So I took him out of the box and I laid him on the table and I prayed my heart out for several hours. And when my mother came home and found us, she screamed bloody murder. She picked him up and threw him in the garbage. She worked hard, my mother. She was exhausted, and she couldn't have known how cruel that was. But I cried and cried, saying, "God didn't answer my prayers!" I remember my mother was pouring herself a whiskey; the Martin family cure for everything. She looked at me and laughed. "God always answers our prayers, Judy. It's just rarely the answer we're looking for. " It's over for me, Frank. My goose is cooked.
Frank: I certainly hope you're not blaming yourself. Men are never gonna accept a woman taking charge, especially not a woman as strong as you are. In my opinion, you never really had a chance.
(Jude takes off her habit and leaves the asylum.
Arden prepares to do the lobotomy, through Charlotte's eyeball.
Jude puts on her best red lipstick and settles in at a bar as Arden cracks away into Charlotte's skull.)
Bar
Customer: (to Sister Jude) What's your poison, sweetheart?
Dr Thredson’s home
(Dr Thredson brings Lana to his place.)
Dr Thredson: Make yourself at home.
Lana: Dr. Thredson?
Dr Thredson: Oliver.
Lana: I really appreciate everything you've done, but I think I want to go to my house.
Dr Thredson: Lana, once they discover you missing, the first place they'll look is there. You're much safer here-- at least for the night. First thing in the morning, we go to the police. I already have an appointment set up with Detective Spears. I trust him implicitly. We present the evidence, together we shut down Briarcliff. Relax. That place is behind you. Please, come in. Have a seat. You've had an incredibly stressful day. I'm going to prescribe a little something to take the edge off.
Lana: I-I don't want any medicine.
Dr Thredson: A big, delicious glass of wine.
Lana: Well, that doesn't sound half bad.
Dr Thredson: White or red?
Lana: Red.
(He goes to the kitchen to get her some wine. She picks up the phone and dials. He hangs it up.)
Dr Thredson: No calls.
Lana: I was trying to get a hold of my friend Lois-- she might have heard something about Wendy.
Dr Thredson: Lana, you have to realize that I am at risk as well here. I broke you out of a mental institution. I can't afford to let anyone know where you are. Not until we go public tomorrow. You're gonna write about this. You're gonna win a Pulitzer Prize. I just know it, Lana. You are the person to tell my story.
Lana: Your story? Here's to taking down Briarcliff.
Dr Thredson: Hear, hear. (He turns on a pale colored lamp shade. It appears to have nipples.) Mint? (His bowl of mints could easily be the top of a skull.)
Lana: Boy... (quiet laugh) That wine, um, went straight to my head. Would you mind if I used your restroom?
Dr Thredson: Sure. It's right down the hall.
Lana: Thank you.
(She tries all the doors in the hallway, and finds most of them locked. She ends up in a room of scalpels and skinning instruments full of skins and skeletons.)
Lana: I think I made a wrong turn.
Dr Thredson: I see you found my little hobby.
Lana: You make furniture?
Dr Thredson: Lamps mainly. I make the shades myself.
Lana: Really? What kind of material do you use?
Dr Thredson: Skin.
(He hits a button and she drops through the floor.)
Asylum
In the common area
(♪ Dominique, nique, nique ♪
♪ S'en allait tout simplement, ♪
♪ Routier, pauvre et chantant ♪
♪ En tous chemins, en tous lieux, ♪
♪ Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu, ♪
♪ Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu ♪)
(Kit finds Grace bleeding from her operation.)
Kit: Grace? When'd you get Oh, God. Hey, we need a doctor! Those bastards-- I can't believe they actually did it. Dr. Thredson, he promised me this wasn't going to happen.
Byers: Kit Walker, you're under arrest for the murder of Donna Burton, Alison Riedel and Alma Walker.
Grace: Wait.
Kit: Where's Thredson? You guys need to talk to Dr. Thredson.
Connors: No, we don't.
Grace: It's a mistake.
Connors: We got his evaluation and your taped confession.
Byers: Come on, Kit. Let's go.
Grace: No, he didn't do it. She's alive.
Kit: What?
Grace: Everything you said is true.
Kit: For Christ sakes, let me talk to her!
Grace: I saw her! Alma's alive. I saw her!
Dr Thredson’s home
(Lana wakes up chained to a tile floor in a basement with cleavers and knives on the wall.)
Lana: (screaming) Hello? Hello?! (There's a body next to her.) Wendy. Oh, my God. Wendy Wendy. Wendy! (Wendy's been frozen. Lana yells.)
Dr Thredson: She's been on ice for a while. I was hoping she'd be a little more pliable by the time you came to.
Lana: What's happening? What did you do to her?!
Dr Thredson: Kept her fresh. Normally, by now, I would've removed the skin. And head. No, we need to keep her around a little longer for our purposes. We're going to continue our therapy now, Lana. You can begin by kissing her cold lips. Don't worry. She won't bite. (He puts on his skin Bloody Face mask.) I took her teeth. (Lana yells.)
(♪ It could be a wonderful wonderful world ♪)
(Jude sneaks out on her one night stand.)
(♪ If we could consider each other ♪
♪ A neighbor, a friend or a brother ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful, wonderful world ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪
♪ If each little kid could have fresh milk each day ♪
♪ If each working man had enough time to play ♪
♪ If each homeless soul had a good place to stay ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪)
Brown’s home.
Brown: Honey, I'm home!
(♪ If we could consider each other ♪)
Brown: What are you kids up to?
Anne/Charlotte: We're just cleaning up down here. (She is cradling her baby and taking down her Nazi research.)
(♪ It could be a wonderful, wonderful world ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪)
Brown: I smelled something yummy in the kitchen.
Anne/Charlotte: Pot roast. With carrots, potatoes and onions.
Brown: Well, I'm gonna make a martini.
Anne/Charlotte: Don't be silly-- I can make that for you. I can clean up down here tomorrow.
Brown: Is that trash? (Nazi research.) I can take this.
Anne/Charlotte: That would be swell.
Brown: You seem happy, sweetheart. Are you as happy as you look?
Anne/Charlotte: I've never been happier.
(♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪
♪ If we could consider each other ♪
♪ A neighbor, a friend or a brother ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful, wonderful world ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful, wonderful world ♪
♪ It could be ♪
♪ It could be ♪
♪ It could be ♪
♪ It could be ♪
♪ It could be a wonderful world ♪)
(Zoom in on a photo still on her wall of Adolf Hitler at a rally. A young Dr. Arden stands in the S.S. crowd behind him.)
–[End]–