FADE IN:
FOLDS OF RED VELVET UNDULATE EVER SO SLOWLY.
TITLE : PART ONE - A KISS IN THE CHURCH
DISSOLVE TO:
1 : INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH. SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE. 1517. EVENING.
Dark smoke. Coloured light through stained glass. An organ playing some slightly tacky Catholic music. Now the smoke clears enough to show a silhouette of the heads of the congregation. In front of them is the altarpiece. A huge fresco in golden candlelight depicting miracles from the life of Christ.
DISSOLVE TO:
2 : INT. SAME CATHOLIC CHURCH.
CLOSER ON FRESCO. The camera moves across the story. First, Christ with a Blind Man. PAN ACROSS slowly to Christ spitting on the earth. PAN ACROSS to the fingers of Christ blending his spit into the earth. Then CLOSE IN to the mud. Now PAN ACROSS to the image of his thumbs, covered in mud, over the eye-lids of the Blind Man. FADE INTO to the Blind Man with his eyes open full of wonder and terror. The word: VISION !
DISSOLVE TO:
3 : INT. SAME CATHOLIC CHURCH.
From above, as in the rafters, a YOUNG NUN carrying a tray between the pews. Sudden CLOSE UP on the tray - it is full of indulgences wrapped like sweets. She is selling Salvation. CLOSE UP on her face now. She is bored. CUT TO a MIDDLE AGED MAN in the congregation raising his hand.
DISSOLVE TO:
3 : INT. SAME CATHOLIC CHURCH.
CLOSE UP on the face of Christ, which we think is the altar but as we DRAW BACK it is revealed to be a picture of Christ, on a board, held in the hands of a PIOUS WOMAN in the congregation. She is staring at the picture. The IMPATIENT MAN to her side is looking at her. He is not her husband. The PIOUS WOMAN puts her lips to the lips of Christ for a long while. Maybe she has fallen asleep. A stick taps her on the shoulder. It is the stick of the SEXTANT telling her to move on. She jumps and wipes a string of her saliva off the lips of Christ with her sleeve and passes it to the IMPATIENT MAN at her side. He kisses the lips of Christ. The same spot she kissed. He passes the picture to the PROTESTING MAN who is next in line, who throws it with immediate reflex to the stone floor.
CUT TO:
4 : EXT. TOWN SQUARE. DAY.
Statues of saints beheaded. 4 : INT. CHURCH. A DIFFERENT DAY.
Silence. A lone monk polishing the gold. The sound of horses and the doors burst open. SOLDIERS ride into with long handled axes. They start to smash the windows. Coloured light turns White. Sound of stained glass splintering.
CUT TO:
5 : EXT. CHURCH YARD. DAY.
The YOUNG NUN on the ground, her indulgences strewn in the mud, her habit around her thighs. The kissing board of CHRIST trodden underfoot. White paint thrown over the miracle of the Blind Man.
CUT TO:
6 : EXT. A FIELD AT NIGHT.
In LONG SHOT, the INQUISITION riding.
CUT TO:
7 : EXT. THE SQUARE IN ORLEANS
An auto-da-fé. Sixteen burning crosses fill the square. A grand spectacle. Faces of wonder in the crowd. A religious experience.
CUT TO:
8 : EXT. A BOAT BOUND FOR THE NEW WORLD
The PROTESTING MAN from the church with his wife and family.
TITLE : PART TWO : A KISS AT THE THEATRE
DISSOLVE TO:
9 : INT. Blackfriars’ Theatre. London. 1612.
Dark room. Smoke hangs in the air. Shafts of coloured light moving through new stage lighting technology. A jewel box stage. Eyes watering in the smoke from the burning technology. A kaleidoscopic dream.
DISSOLVE TO:
10 : INT. Blackfriars’ Theatre.
On the stage, a STATUE OF A WOMAN, so real that it looks like she might breathe. Another WOMAN kisses the STATUE. The STATUE appears to come magically to life.
DISSOLVE TO:
11 : INT. Blackfriars’ Theatre - The balcony.
A PURITAN in the audience. He shifts in his seat.
DISSOLVE TO:
12 : INT. Blackfriars’ Theatre - The stage.
The STATUE OF A WOMAN has revealed herself to be a QUEEN. A boy actor as the QUEEN. He kisses the KING. A kiss of husband and wife. The audience gasp and weep and applaud.
CUT TO:
12 : INT. Blackfriars’ Theatre - The balcony.
The PURITAN rises to leave. A YOUNG ORANGE-SELLER winks at the PURITAN. She offers him a fruit from her tray. He bats her away.
CUT TO:
12 : INT. The Puritan’s home late at night.
At his desk.
Scribbling.
PURITAN
Do STAGE-PLAYS not enrage lusts, add fire and fuel to unchaste affections, deprave minds, corrupt manners, cauterize consciences, obdurate hearts, multiply heinous transgressions, consume estates, misspend time, canker graces, blast virtues, interrupt studies, and without repentance DAMN SOULS…?
VISION !
Civil War.
The PURITAN with his ears hacked off.
An OLD MONK blinded with a shard of blue glass.
Battle.
The YOUNG ORANGE-SELLER on the ground, her oranges strewn in the mud.
PURITANS in a church in suffolk.
The church set on fire.
Massacre.
VISION !
The PURITAN on the boat for the New World.
PART THREE : A KISS AT THE PICTURES
The interior of Thomas Edison’s Vitascope Hall in New Orleans. April 23rd, 1896.
Clouds of cigarette smoke in a packed auditorium.
Four hundred people.
The gas light is dimmed to black out.
The first time a projected moving picture is shown to an audience in the United States.
VISION !
VISION !
An USHERETTE offers a GODLY MAN OF AMERICA a candy or a programme. His face is fixed on the screen. He ignores the girl.
VISION !
The GODLY MAN in his Godly home.
At his desk.
GODLY MAN: (writing)
Such things demand police interference.
Our cities from time to time have spasms of morality, when they arrest people for showing lithographs of ballet girls.
Yet they permit, night after night, these performances which are infinitely more degrading.
VISION !
THE GODLY MAN OF AMERICA closes his eyes.
His eyes move behind his eyelids.
He picks up the phone.
PART FOUR : CENSORING THE KISS
Interior of a private screening room. North Carolina. Some time in the 1920s.
The GODLY MEN OF AMERICA are slouched in a darkened room specially prepared for their censorship. They are watching a variety of kisses and other obscenities over the smoke of their cigars. The joints of their loins have been loosed now over the years.
GODLY MAN: (to the projectionist)
What are we looking at here?
VISION !
VISION !
VISION !
Suddenly, the WIFE OF THE GODLY MAN bursts through the door. The GODLY MEN all leap to their feet. Now the image of a dancing girl is projected onto the face of the GODLY MAN. Phantom eyes on his eyes. The lips of a French actress behind a veil projected on his lips. She opens her mouth. We see the tip of her tongue.
GODLY MAN:
Turn it off! Turn it off! Turn that FUCKING thing off!
The room goes suddenly dark and we are now in a dark place. Voices:
GODLY MAN:
Why are you here?
Darling, you should be in bed. (to the projectionist) Where are the lights? I need some light!
You should be in bed.
WIFE OF THE GODLY MAN:
I wanted to see you.
I found a jewish boy who speaks the language of dreams.
The light of the projector snaps on.
The WIFE has gone.
It is only the first GODLY MAN sitting with the JEWISH LAD watching the pictures.
More lips in light.
And kisses.
The JEWISH LAD is watching the GODLY MAN who is watching the screen.
JEWISH LAD :
Can we see that again?
It repeats. The JEWISH LAD smiles to himself.
GODLY MAN: (his eyes fixed)
A short kiss is acceptable to me.
A few seconds.
An honest Christian kiss in the context of a bible story OK.
Any more and it’s not showing in this state.
…
Is that girl Indian?
He looks the JEWISH LAD in the eye.
Is that girl Indian, or is it make-up?
Where does it end?
As he turns again to the screen, the room dims.
Close up on the face of the GODLY MAN, barely lit by the reflection of the words.
GODLY MAN :
What the fuck is this?
JEWISH LAD :
It’s the writing on the wall.
GODLY MAN :
But what does it mean?
JEWISH LAD :
Ah.
MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Daniel. Chapter Five.
It’s a warning.
GODLY MAN :
I know where it’s fucking from, kid.
Don’t patronise me.
I’ve read the Bible.
Both parts.
The JEWISH LAD raises his eyebrow.
JEWISH LAD :
I’d better go back to work.
He takes his coat, hat and cane and walks to the door.
The GODLY MAN watches the JEWISH LAD go.
His knees knock one against the other and he is given to fear mightily.
He feels in his bones that these movie folk know more about kissing than he ever will.
