Excerpt of the Pink Motel Treatment:
Feature Film (Tragi-comedy, ca. 90 min. Color)
by Yves Bernas
Log-line:
2028, a rich widow entrusts her new lover to find her much younger clone Sandy to have her donate some heart cells to fix her new heart. Sandy is 30 years younger.
Main characters (4):
Miss Ingrid Sweed, born Barret (50), widow of Ernst Heinrich Sweed (†,Doctor and founder of the Braunfels Transgenic Clinic, specialised in organ breeding).
Roger Wimmersen (55) Retired civil servant. Lover and later second husband of Ingrid.
Dr Josef Kaplan: (45) Personal Doctor of Ingrid at the Braunfels Clinic.
Sandy (25), clone of Ingrid, drug addict and prostitute.
Secondary characters (18):
Ernst Heinrich Sweed (†)
Mrs Länder (70) a patient.
The nurse Angelina.
Toby Bloom, an 8 year old patient.
Mrs Bloom, Mother of Toby.
Sarah, wife of Dr Kaplan.
Mr Carpentier, foster father of Sandy.
Mrs Carpentier, foster mother of Sandy.
Mr Huan, Owner of the Augustin Pumps Shop and boss of the organ trafficking van gang and driver of the van.
Mr Mängel, the van surgeon.
Mrs Wing, a van nurse.
Mr Piccard, another van nurse.
Jack Aal, the strangler.
Chloé, the cleaning lady at Villa Mortlake.
Mr Corbasse, the coroner.
Mr Fox, Police Officer.
Priest.
The young clone of Ernst Heinrich Sweed.
Tertiary characters (24):
The ticket vendor at the theater.
Three children (theater hall)
The midget hotel doorman.
The hotel receptionist.
The first hostess at the Braunfels Clinic.
The second hostess at the Braunfels Clinic.
Two clones of Ingrid (played by Ingrid).
The executioner (in the dream).
Medical Aid (on the phone).
A second doctor.
A first nurse walking with the second doctor.
A second nurse walking with the second doctor.
The waiter at The Verges Hotel.
The younger prostitute.
The elder prostitute.
The nymphet prostitute.
The truck driver client.
TV speaker.
A victim in woods.
The “Pablo Neruda” prostitute.
The old grey-haired prostitute.
The tall black prostitute client.
The “baby-on-board” hooker.
A drunk lying on the ground.
The “Mona” prostitute.
Extras
Extras at the wedding.
Extras at the coffee shop.
Extras at the cemetery.
Treatment
1. At the “People’s Stage” Theater, Night.
It is Christmas 2028. In front of the “People’s Stage” Theater. A lit banner shows the title of the play: “NO PERFORMANCE” by Bill Bucket. Only a few people in front of the theater.
MISS INGRID BARETT, 50 years old, elegantly dressed with a fur coat climbs up the stairs and walks into the hall.
ROGER WIMMERSEN 55 years old, also elegantly dressed, climbs up the same stairs a few seconds later. We follow them. In the hall we see a sign: SANTA CLAUS IS A THIEF with an arrow, indicating the way to go. Ingrid walks up to the ticket booth. There are a few children coming back from or going to the toilets.
Ingrid buys a ticket. She then realises the employee gave him the wrong ticket, for « SANTA CLAUS IS A THIEF » instead of « NO PERFORMANCE ». She complains. The employee is grumpy an asks her if she can’t read because it says No performance. She turns around towards Roger who stands behind her and they both start laughing.
2. In Roger’s Arrow II.
Roger is at the wheel of his Arrow II, a stylish electrical black old-timer. He is driving in the streets of a city. Ingrid sits on the passenger seat. He drives up the narrow path up to the entrance of a five star hotel and stops under the awning. The path is not made for cars neither is the awning. He stops the car. Ingrid suggests Roger to bring her to her room. Roger is surprised and embarrassed. An arrogant midget doorman shows up. Roger gives the doorman the keys.
3. Ingrid’s hotel hall.
Ingrid walks into the hall, closely followed by Roger, impressed by the luxury. The RECEPTIONIST seems very interested in the new company of Miss Ingrid Barret and eyes them from his desk. She walks up proudly to the reception. Roger follows her to the desk and stays slightly behind while she gets her keys. Ingrid takes Roger’s arm and they both walk up to the elevators under the curious looks of the receptionist.
4. In front of Ingrid’s suite.
Roger Wimmersen and Miss Ingrid Barret are both in front Ingrid’s suite. She opens the door, turns around to Roger. He takes off his hat. He takes her left gloved hand and approaches it to his lips and mimics a kiss without touching the glove with his lips. She walks into her room, throws her fur coat on a chair, turns around to Roger, still standing at the door. She has one hand behind her back, trying to unzip her blouse and another hand on her crotch for her balance it seems.
At the same time, her blouse falls off unveiling her firm and naked breasts. Ingrid asks him how he likes them. Roger blushes and is confused. Ingrid is obviously very pleased. Roger tries to keep his composure and acts like a notary, an expert in charge of evaluating the quality of an asset, a commodity. He is obviously getting horny but he tries to hide it. He decides to part. He then walks away with firm steps and only turns around when he has reached the corner to the elevators, saying he hopes to see her again soon.
5. Ingrid’s suite.
Miss Barret is stupefied. She looks at herself, in particular her breasts, in the mirror of the dressing table, full of luxury makeup products. She puts her fur coat on. Looks at herself in the mirror again, opens the coat, caresses her breasts. Her facial expression is a mixture of sadness and auto-erotism. She gets closer to the mirror and kisses herself in the mirror, leaving her red lipstick print on it. She then slides a finger on the wrinkles on her face, as trying to flatten them by a slight pressure. She bursts into tears and slumps on her bed, silently crying.
6. In Ingrid’s convertible, sunny day, summer.
Ingrid and Roger in Ingrid’s convertible. She wears a white scarf in her hair and sunglasses. She is at the wheel. They laugh.
7. At the beach, sunny day, summer.
They run in the water and splash each other. The same laughter.
8. In Ingrid’s convertible, sunny day, summer.
Driving back in the convertible. This time, Roger is at the wheel. They laugh.
9. In front of a the town hall.
The newly married couple (Roger and Ingrid) stand in front of the town hall among friends and relatives for a picture to be taken. They laugh the same laughter. The picture is taken.
10. A year later. At the house of Ingrid and Roger, in the lobby.
We see the picture which has been taken at the wedding on a shelf in the lobby and then we see Roger sitting in a leather armchair facing the fireplace and eating chocolate, a book on his laps. The ceilings are high, the decoration is baroque, big windows, big (red) curtains. Not far from the entrance, a broken duchess. Ingrid comes in trough the main entrance and throws her mink on the duchess. She come closer to Roger and tells him that she went to the doctor and that there is something wrong with her heart and that she needs a new one. Roger freezes. She tells him that she already knows the donor.
11. In Roger’s car daytime.
Roger is at the wheel. Ingrid is on the passenger’s seat. They are driving on a curvy road overlooking the sea. Ingrid is looking through the window and thereby giving Roger a cold shoulder. He does not like it. Roger looks sad and mischievous. He is worried her new heart comes from organ trafficking, i.e. the black market. She reassures him, suggesting him her new heart has been bread from her stem cells in her late husband’s clinic. She then burst out into a laughter, unknown to Roger.
Reassured, his mood completely changes. He becomes all enthusiastic and jolly, brakes, pulls the car to the left, stops, rushes over to her, takes her hands, kisses them, kiss her, asking for forgiveness of his dark thoughts about her. Roger’s head now rests on her laps. Ingrid, her hands in his hair moans in a blend of exasperation and condescendence. She gazes in front of her and suddenly her face turns serious. They are driving again, on the same road. Roger is singing. Ingrid is annoyed at Roger’s good mood, but she puts a smile on.
12. In front of BRAUNFELS TRANSGENIC CLINIC.
They arrive there, stop and get out of the car walk to the main entrance.
13. Inside the clinic’s hall.
Nice looking young HOSTESSES with bright smiles and bleached teeth, all dressed in white (trousers, jackets, shirt, shoes, socks all white) are standing behind their desk. The hall is also all white (white walls, white tiles preferably). Near the entrances, they are some booths closed with white curtains. In the middle of the hall, there is a bust of ERNST-HEINRICH SWEED. On one of the walls there is also a big photograph of Ernst-Heinrich. Next to both the bust and the photograph, there is some accompanying text:
Doctor Ernst Heinrich Sweed, 1981-2054, Pioneer in genetic biology, especially in breeding of human organs and cloning. Founder of The Braunfels Transgenic Clinic and The Braunfels Transgenic Research Institute.
Noticing Ingrid come in, both hostesses come out from behind their desks and walk up graciously. One greets her by the name of her late husband Sweed. Ingrid gives her a frozen look. We hear steps. Dr Kaplan arrives. He takes her hand, pretends to kiss it and brings it close to his heart. Dr Kaplan tries to compliment her on her young look but makes a blunder. He then enquires, slightly worried wether Roger knows about the activities of the Transgenic Clinic, the practice the breeding of human organs. Mrs. Barret, Roger and Dr Kaplan then leave the entrance hall towards a corridor.
14. In the corridors.
A self driving bed, with a body covered with grey tarpaulin approaches. Roger slows down to let it pass and tightens up. They keep on walking. They arrive at a high-security airlock. Dr Kaplan swipes his badge and the doors open. They carry on. The corridor walls have given way to large windows, behind which a slightly pinkish liquid (called Vitax®) fills the space up to mid-height. It looks like an aquarium. They cross a doorless gate, on top of which is a sign with the word KERN written on it. They keep on walking.
Suddenly a whole body is seen lying behind the window, resting on a bed, immersed in that pink liquid Vitax® up to the chin. Roger is tensed. The chest of the body moves up and down regularly at the rhythm of the breathing. They continue their walk, another body immersed in Vitax®, resting on a bed. They pass a sign on which is written: PRE-OPERATIVE REST. Roger is relieved. He stumbles and clings to Ingrid’s hand, looking upon her with some kind of admiration. They walk another 30 meters. They stop in front a the 58 box. Dr. Kaplan swipes his badge, the door opens and Dr. Kaplan and Ingrid walk in, followed by Roger.
15. Inside Box 58.
Inside lies a naked young woman. Her pubis is covered with a four-leaf clover. She is immersed in Vitax® up to her breasts, she breathes with a regular rhythm, even if there is a supporting surface that acts as a bed under her back, she doesn’t rest on it, she doesn’t touch it, she floats. We see and hear her breathing. Her hands are joined together on her chest as if she were praying. She looks exactly like Ingrid, but much younger. Her skin is perfectly smooth and white as milk, her lips voluptuous and vigorous with all the strength of love. She lay like the sleeping beauty.
Roger uncontrollably moves his neck forward. His eyes remain stuck to hers. Ingrid walks towards her clone, she takes her right hand. The left one falls coldly into the Vitax®, splashing Doctor Kaplan’s white coat with large pink drops. She approaches her lips to the clone’s forehead and kisses it for a long time. She then straightens up and like a raptor bird, she dives on her prey, sticking her fiery lips on those of the lying woman.
Doctor Kaplan happily takes the pulse of the clone, indifferent to all this emotionality. He then goes to the other bed on which lies a third Ingrid, identical to the previous one.
This is too much for Roger. He looks at Ingrid reproachfully. Ingrid tells him he should not worry because they don’t have brains, that the formation of the brain except the hypothalamus has been hindered: the expression of the EMX2 and PAX6 genes has been modified and finally inhibited. They are not human beings, even if they look like ones. One of the clones sighs. Roger is horrified. But Dr Kaplan tells him it is the work of the parasympathetic and that this sighing has nothing to do with emotions. Roger is relieved. Dr Kaplan tells Roger that Dr Heinrich Sweed had first made a few clones with a brain before he managed to inhibit the brain formation. Dr Kaplan then asks Ingrid how SANDY is doing. Ingrid gives him a freezing look. Dr Kaplan immediately stops enquiring, regretting his words. Dr Kaplan makes a tactless remark while looking at the breasts of one of the clones. Ingrid slaps him in the face. He falls on his knees in front of Ingrid, takes her hands and begs for forgiveness. But it is Ingrid who apologises for having slapped him. They leave, arm in arm, like old friends. Roger follows…