The working script for the film, 'The Balance of the Mind

Lichtenstein, Jonathan

University of Essex Research Repository

The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   1    The Balance of the Mind                              Jonathan  Lichtenstein              The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   2       1. Afore th’ morn.   2. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep.  3. Blackout  4. To the depths  5. Blackout    6. Connecting to the tree of knowledge  7. Blackout  8. I am Oedipus  9. Blackout  10. The facts  11.The Trance  12.Surfacing  13 I came to a stile near a hedge  14. The great Journey  15. Blackout  16. Suicide numbers          The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   3     1. Afore th’ morn  FILM: Standing in trees at dawn  Fx: Birds at dawn   Înainte de dimineatā  Înainte de luminā  Înainte de soare  Când membrele mele sunt nemiscate  Afore th’ morn  Afore light  Afore Sun  When mine limbs are still   I beseech the earth to rise   Up and take me  By its arm  Along the walk  That is bounded on all sides by  Grace  The grace of   All that is and all that  Is gone  To offer  All who are present The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   4 And have been lost  And who have their time to come  That we should sit together   Beside the stream  That passes its embrace  Around us   And   In smiling contemplation,  Gain protection from the day ahead.       2. Nu pot sa dorm I can’t sleep  FILM.  Walking along a path surrounded by trees   Fx:  Footsteps through trees       Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu sa pot dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu sa pot dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu sa pot dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu pot sa dorm. Nu sa pot dorm.  I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep.  I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep.  The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   5I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep.   Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep.  Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep.  Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep. Nu pot sa dorm. I can’t sleep.   3. Blackout FX: A sharp inhalation of breath    4. To the depths   FILM: Watching the Buffalo  Fx: the buffalo    It’s the abruptness that gets you  Sends you under the surface  Under the exhausting ice  Then further   Into the depths  Though it is difficult to understand  What’s happening  The reference points have been lost  The colour has been   The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   6Dialed down  Sounds   Become distant  The fade is gradual  You don’t notice it  People begin to turn away  Their eyes avert  Their shoulders drop  Imperceptively  Before they leave  They tell you   You’ll be alright  It’s alright  Things are alright  Everything’s alright  All’s well  They say  And although you hear the words  They bounce off   The drab air that is now around you  They disappear   They give way to   The sweats   The waking at night   Alert  The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   7And the palpitations  And the fear   That runs   Torrentially through  All things  And will not stop  The torrent  That has no end.  The torrent.     5. Blackout  FX Rain     6. Connecting to the tree of knowledge  FILM: Trees in the wind  FX: Wind   I drank  A phial   Of wine  The moon hit its zenith  Rays irradiated   The spheres  It was quiet  It was loud The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   8 It was dark   It was bright with light  I connected to the tree of knowledge  It was wonderful   It was marvelous   It was intoxicating   It was ineffable   It was elating  It was bestowed upon me   The lexicon of the divine  The source of all life  Given to the few who are brave and wholly free  Who transcend their earthly bounds   How extraordinary  How intoxicatingly efficacious  How attuned to the mythological traces of our time  An effulgent lambent essence   Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!  I cannot see! I cannot see!       7. Blackout  I cannot see. I cannot see     The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   9  8. I am Oedipus  FILM: Three gates in a field   I am Oedipus.   I am in Thebes.   The dust of the land is blowing across the dry earth.   The goats are singing their sacrificial song.   Dionysius has arrived in the city  Her entourage is with her  There is dancing   There is laughing  Tiresias is here.   She is walking towards me.   She stands beside me  She is leaning towards me  She is whispering   In my ear  She is saying: -  You are the polluter of your own land.   It is you who brings misfortune and destruction to those around you.   It is you who have brought the plague upon us all.  No! No! That cannot be.   Misfortune is caused by others    You are the instigator of your own downfall  No! No!  The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   10 It is you   IT’S NOT MY FAULT.     9. Blackout  Fx. A sharp inhalation of breath  Fx Crowd   10. The facts. U.K.  FILM: The barn  1988, 5892 1989,5279 1990,5502 1991,5445 1992,5423 1993, 5136 1994, 5041 1995, 5088 1996,4873 1997,4783 1998,5300 1999,5201 2000,5036 2001,4854 2002,4717 2003, 4747 2004, 4816 2005, 4654 2006,4469 2007,4286 2008,4562 2009, 4642 2010,4476 2011,4843 2012,4843 2013 5092 2014,5116 2015,5137 2016, 4,883 2017, 5,821  2018, 6,507   The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   11 TOTAL OVER THE AVERAGE LIFETIME OF A PERSON (81.6 years)  412,000 –   11. The Trance  FILM: Grass blown around in a storm  Fx Distortion  I am in a trance  I am with Marmaduke  The shroud has begun to lift  It is a mysterium tremendum  I demand a tartan rug to sit on  I demand a macaroon  I demand to dance  I demand a purple linen suit  I demand a liquation of limoncello  I demand a wide brimmed lace hat  I demand an aquamarine kitten to sit upon my lap  I demand the Queen’s cavalry  I demand the Sergeant at Arms  I demand a 17 hands white stallion  I demand lilac petals  I demand rose petal  I demand gold  I demand  Ah the stallion enters  The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   12Ah the gold arrives  Ah the rose and lilac petals fall    12. Surfacing  FILM: the Sea   One day you come up  You surface  You wake with energy in the morning  You don’t know why  The world looks bright  It looks optimistic  It looks full of things to enjoy  You blow the water from your lungs  Your nose  From the bottom of your intestines  And there you are   Yourself  Oxygenated  Breathing  On land  And you didn’t know   How you got into the sea  How you walked into the marsh  How you slid into the mist  How you fell from the cliff The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   13 How the forest surrounded you   How the river came to envelop you  How the motorway ran through you  How the precinct crowded you out  How you got back to the bank  Where before there was no bank  No mooring   And when you do moor  You say to yourself  As you place a tentative foot on land  As your eyes bend towards the stability of your surroundings  As your hands touch stones  That now seem solid  You say  So this is the puzzle  Not death   Or even dying  But Life.    13. I came to a stile near a hedge  FILM: Walking towards a stile near a hedge   Fx. The child speaks  Out in the woods  A woman climbed over a fence   She walked over cautiously on tiptoes   The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   14With her hands together   And started to speak.   She pushed her hair with her own hands   And fell to her knees     14. The Great Journey  FILM: Walking through the woods   I cast myself  Into the great journey  Immersed myself in   The great works  Communed with the poets, the philosophers, the writers  Thought about whom they have  Considered  Their ideas  A tapestry of thinking  A cloth of thought  An outfit of philosophies  I have come to understand how the human heart is made  Its ventricles and pounding chambers  Its valves and arteries  Its lilac blood  I have understood that   To be human  The Balance of the Mind Jonathan Lichtenstein   15To glimpse the essence of all things  Requires the heart   To bear great tests  And I have passed these tests  I HAVE BORNE MY OWN HEART  I have journeyed to  Sit at the feet of the great minds  To find  There is no   Explanation   Not for the sparrow in the bushes  Not for the jackdaw on the path  Not for the railway line that passes through  Not for the pressure on my skin  Not for one wide eyed glance   Not for  One    Inhalation   15. Breath    Credits   16. Suicide numbers      

The Balance of the Mind -(script)

http://repository.essex.ac.uk/28259/3/Script%20The%20Balance%20of%20the%20Mind.pdf

The Balance of the Mind -(script)

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