copyright 1996

Please note: "Hide and Seek" is a mix of fiction and documentary. Regarding the documentary element: The interview segments are included, with the name of the woman being interviewed, with a heading—INTERVIEW INTERVAL—when they come in the middle of a fictional scene or as SCENE—INTERVIEW SEGMENT—when they occur between fictional scenes. Most of the interviews are mixed with archival film footage. When these contain dialogue or text, it's included in the script, written in italics. There are also two cases in which the lyrics of a song serve as the text for the scene, so these are written out in full.

OVER THE OPENING CREDITS:

SCENE ONE—EXT. TREE HOUSE—DAY

LOU and BETSY are furnishing a tree house in Lou's back yard. Lou hauls up a crate of their stash, Betsy arranges the boxes in a corner, Lou hammers up a "PRIVATE—DO NOT ENTER" sign. They work harmoniously together.

Both girls are 12 years old and white. Lou is taller, somewhat more athletic and aggressive in her movements. Betsy is eager, helpful, friendly.

Lou climbs up the ladder and closes the squeaky trap door, sealing them off from the world below.

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SCENE THREE—EXT. FRONT OF SCHOOL—DAY

LOU is standing in a huddle with BETSY and LIZZIE. Lizzie is an excitable, somewhat crude white girl, one of their good friends. They're in front of school. It's morning, and other kids are arriving. A car pulls up to the curb. Two white women are in the front seat. They sit for a moment chatting. Lizzie glances over, then gives Lou and Betsy a look. Betsy stares back blankly while Lou shifts her feet nervously. The door opens. Lizzie turns excitedly to her friends.

A woman in her early 40's gets out of the car and starts walking toward the girls. It's Miss Callahan, the butch gym teacher, in one of those skirt and blouse numbers that's meant to help her pass as femme. Lizzie looks over at the car as it pulls away, then turns back in time for Miss Callahan to catch her curious look. Lou looks back and forth between Lizzie and her teacher. As Miss Callahan runs their gauntlet, she gives the girls a smile.

Hello, girls.

They regroup as soon as she's out of earshot. Lizzie is giddy with her discovery.

Lizzie starts to laugh.

Yea—cuz they're lezzies!

Betsy's curiosity gets the better of her.

Lou makes a move as if to say or do something, but is interrupted by a shout.

The girls turn and see MAUREEN running up to them. She's a pretty white girl who's working hard to be most popular and desirable in her class.

Lizzie and Betsy exclaim and gather around her ("Far out!" "Cool!"). Lou is grateful for the distraction. The camera pulls back out of range; we see Lou standing slightly outside the circle.

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SCENE FIVE—INT. SCHOOL AUDITORIUM—DAY

A farewell party for the school's vice president is taking place in the school auditorium. The PRINCIPAL, a middle aged white man, is at the podium.

(The principal's speech is shown here in full, but on screen we only see him deliver the first few lines. After that, the scene stays focussed on the action between the girls while his speech drones on as a boring and absurd backdrop.)

A round of applause. LOU is seen sitting in the middle of a row of kids. We can see LIZZIE sitting in the row behind her.

Lou listens with a bored expression. She notices that the head of the girl in front of her is nodding slightly from side to side. It's her friend BETSY. Lou smiles to herself. That old principal would put anyone to sleep.

More applause. To Betsy's right is MAUREEN. To Betsy's left is JANICE. Becoming curious, Lou leans forward and sees that Maureen and Janice are, ever so slowly and lightly, stroking the inside of Betsy's arms. In a shot from the front, we see that Betsy has her eyes closed and is wearing a blissful smile. Lou sits back quickly. Maureen turns to Lou and gives her a little smile, as if Lou is, or would be, a part of this game. Lou glances at her, then looks again at the stage as if she's terribly interested in what's being said. Maureen turns away with a raised eyebrow. Down in the audience, the action continues while the principal continues his speech.

Mr. Hennessy stands, the audience applauds.

We see Lou's hands in her lap. Her left hand is lying palm up. With her right, she begins gingerly stroking her own wrist, then glances sideways to see if anyone has noticed. She quickly turns her hands over and balls them up.

So, without further ado, here is Mark Musinski, our emcee for the show. Mark?

The Principal turns to welcome a student, MARK MUSINSKI, as he comes to the podium.

The first performance this afternoon will be by Denise Williams, who had one of her poems printed in the Sunday paper last week. Today she will read a poem entitled "Black Radiance."

Applause. Lou sits up proudly at the mention of Denise's name and glances back excitedly at Lizzie. They smile at each other. DENISE is a pretty black girl with a serious air about her. She comes to the podium, looks around nervously and clears her throat.

She straightens up, summons her courage and begins.

"Black Radiance"

Applause. Lou and Lizzie are smiling and clapping as Denise leaves the stage.

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SCENE SIX—INTERVIEWS AND EXT. ABANDONED LOT BY THE EAST RIVER—DAY

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

It's a sunny afternoon. LOU is with two boys, JACK and ERNIE, aged 11-13. They're at the abandoned piers on the Brooklyn side of the East River. The spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline stands in strange contrast to this desolate area, where vagrant men wander around, picking through the rubble.

Even from a distance one can see that Jack is the leader of the group, but there's obviously some competition between Lou and Jack.

They play out typical rituals, daring each other to do increasingly dangerous things—jump over a gap in the pier, climb a rickety scaffold, stand on a rock that a rat just ran under, etc.

The following interviews are heard over the scenes of them playing.

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SCENE SEVEN—EXT.—EAST RIVER—DAY

Finally, LOU, JACK, and ERNIE get to a creepy looking building—it's a total wreck, and pitch black inside. They have a rock throwing contest: who can break the highest window in the building. Lou throws the winning pitch.

He points to the abandoned building with the now broken window.

Lou heads for the building. She's nervous but won't give Jack the satisfaction of showing it. She enters the building—it's really disgusting and scary. The boys watch for a long moment; even Jack starts to look nervous, but then Lou appears at the upper window and waves.

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

As Lou turns away from the window, a look of fear comes over her. She starts to run for the exit. Outside, the boys wait. Lou stops herself from running out of the building, but is still walking quickly as she emerges and goes past the boys.

Lou decides to ignore that remark and starts to leave.

Lou walks away stiffly. Jack starts running toward her.

SCENE EIGHT—INT. HALL OUTSIDE LOU'S BATHROOM—DAY

With the sound of Jack's TAUNTING CRIES still echoing, LOU races up to the bathroom door, tears it open, runs in and slams it shut behind her.

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SCENE NINE—INT. LOU'S BATHROOM—DAY

LOU quickly takes off her pants and underwear, throws them into the tub and turns on both faucets full blast. As the water pours over her pants, we see dark swirls of blood. She stares in disbelief. Someone knocks on the bathroom door. Lou jumps at the sound.

Lou glances towards the door. It's ANABELLE, her fifteen year old sister. Lou slides to the floor and sits with her back against the tub. Behind her, the WATER CONTINUES RUNNING. There's another knock at the door.

Hurry up!... Are you okay?

Lou looks down at herself. No, she's not okay.

Let me in, I have to go to the bathroom!

Lou is on the verge of tears. She gets up, wraps a towel around her waist and unlocks the door. Anabelle pushes her way in.

Lou stands silent. Anabelle notices the running water, the half-full tub. She turns with a look of surprise and pride.

But Lou's expression stops her short.

Lou nods her head slowly and unhappily. She won't look up at Anabelle.

Anabelle bends over and turns off the faucets. When she stands up, she sees Lou hanging her head morosely.

Oh Lou, it's not like you just died or something!

Anabelle goes to the bathroom cabinet. Out of the corner of her eye, Lou watches her every move. Lou needs help but hates every minute of this. Anabelle holds up a sanitary pad and a belt.

I don't want to wear that stupid thing. It's huge. Everyone will be able to tell.

Not if you wear a skirt, they won't.

Anabelle sees that Lou isn't convinced or comforted by that.

Fade out on Lou, head hanging, inconsolable about the loss of her youth and the shame of being female.

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SCENE TEN—INT. CLASSROOM—DAY

In the darkened classroom of a public school, we see an (actual) educational film from 1958 being projected against the front wall. BETSY is surreptitiously passing a note to LOU, who sits in the row in front of her. The girls pay no attention to the film.

      A group of six white girls, about 12-13 years old, are sitting in a circle on a lawn.

Lou is busily writing a note in response to Betsy's.

Leaning against the side wall of the classroom is the TEACHER. She notices the antics of the girls.

Cut to Lou, who is watching the film almost against her will.

Lou is staring straight ahead of her as if she wants to bore a hole in the wall and disappear through it.

Lou slumps forward, lays her chin in her hands, and looks up miserably at the screen.

The loud ringing of a telephone breaks in.

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SCENE ELEVEN—INT. SCHOOL HALL—DAY

The classroom door bursts open. Out comes LOU, looking withdrawn, followed by MAUREEN and BETSY. Lou starts to head down the hallway without her friends, but Maureen calls out after her.

Lou stops and turns. Betsy looks at Lou with concern. Lou comes up to Maureen with her fists clenched.

Maureen laughs—it's just a joke. Lou takes a step forward, then looks at Betsy but is too angry to speak. She turns and rushes off camera. Betsy looks with distress at Maureen, then back in the direction Lou has gone.

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SCENE TWELVE—INTERVIEWS AND EXT. STREET—DAY

In a wide shot, we see LOU on her bike, riding hard, trying to undo her bad feelings. It's a residential neighborhood with brownstones and lots of trees. She races up onto the slopes of lawns and zig-zags along the sidewalk. It may not look like much to us, but she's on a Harley, on a horse, in a Jeep, anywhere but in Brooklyn with a girl like Maureen. She gets to a curb, pulls up on her handlebars, hops it and....As she rides, we hear the following interviews.

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SCENE THIRTEEN—EXT. TREE HOUSE—DAY

CU of a hand pulling apart a leaf. LOU is sitting cross legged in her tree house and methodically pulling a leaf apart along its veins.

The tree house is starting to look settled in now: there's a stash of food (canned corn, beef jerky, a bottle of soda) as well as various cigar boxes, balls, etc. Lou's bike is lying in the yard at the foot of the tree house.

BETSY enters the yard and climbs the ladder. Lou doesn't notice her until Betsy's face appears over the edge of the platform.

Lou looks up as Betsy climbs onto the platform.

Betsy nods happily. Lou takes it from the box and hands it to her.

Betsy takes a lick of the filling, then gets a conspiratorial look in her eyes.

Betsy sits up a bit.

Lou is still sitting.

Lou lies down beside Betsy. They look over at each other, then shut their eyes tight.

FADE TO:

SCENE FOURTEEN—INTERVIEWS AND ARCHIVAL FILMS

Cut to a scene from an actual educational film, "Role Enactment in Children's Play", which shows a group of six and seven year olds in a day care center playing out a wedding ceremony. The "bride" and "groom" walk up to the little "priest" and he mumbles something about "Okay, now kiss each other...". The boy and girl kiss and then start to giggle.

Cut to the title crawl of another educational film, "Children's Fantasies". As we read the following crawl, we overhear the interview segment of Gina, below.

Cut back to the "Children's Fantasies" film. In a living room, two women are sitting on a couch while a man sits across from them in an armchair.

Accompanied by scenes of young swedish girls doing gymnastic routines, and other girls and boys playing in a school yard, we hear the following interviews.

Her body intrigued me completely. She had something that to this day I find the most erotic thing and that is if women have very delicate legs, then the knee, the back of the knee, you can see this...this tendon. And I think that's so beautiful. It was the most erotic thing. So I would love to walk behind her when she walked up the stairs, so I could see that.

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SCENE FIFTEEN—EXT. MOVIE THEATER—DAY

LOU is standing in front of a movie theater studying a poster of "My Life with the Lions". After a few moments, BETSY comes running up. They buy tickets and go into the theater together.

The screen goes black, then fades up to images of Africans dancing and hunting, and a white man and woman hunting and photographing various wild animals, including a large group of lionesses.

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SCENE SIXTEEN—INT. LOU AND ANABELLE'S BEDROOM—NIGHT

Lou and Anabelle have the same bedspreads and furniture, but otherwise their bedroom is effectively divided down the middle. One side is neat and girlish, the other messy and full of books and sports equipment.

LOU is sitting on her bed cutting out a page from a LIFE Magazine. It's a photograph of a woman walking with a lioness. Intercut between shots of Lou we see more clips from the movie about Africa from the previous scene.

On the wall behind Lou can be seen other photos of wild animals. She tacks up the new picture beside them.

FADE TO:

SCENE SEVENTEEN—EXT. SCHOOL PLAYGROUND—DAY

At recess, LOU and BETSY are seen leaving the school building, chatting. The sound of laughter and applause attracts their attention. They see a GROUP OF GIRLS in a corner of the playground.

They run down the steps, into the playground, and reach the group just as the "act" is beginning: TONI, a 14 year old black girl, is doing a performing a Supremes song, with two girls behind her doing backup.

MAUREEN, LIZZIE, DENISE and several other girls are in the circle around Toni. Lou and Betsy join them and watch, mesmerized, as Toni plants her feet, puts up one hand straight in front of her, throws back her head and sings out...

Lou, Betsy and the rest of the girls suddenly break in and loudly sing along with Toni...

FADE TO:

SCENE EIGHTEEN—ARCHIVAL FILMS AND INTERVIEWS

  Fade in to a close-up shot of an eye. As it slowly opens, the title of the film it's taken from (an old educational film about psychology called WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND?) is gradually superimposed on the eye.

We then see LOU and BETSY sitting on a stoop playing a hand clapping game, which accompanies the following interview. This image of Lou and Betsy is repeated several times during the scene.

Fade in to a MAN—one of those "experts" in horn rimmed glasses—who introduces us to the concept behind the following 1950's film, JUDGING EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOR.

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SCENE NINETEEN—INTERVIEWS AND INT. LIZZIE'S PARENTS' BEDROOM—DAY

Lizzie's parents' bedroom is decorated with matching Sears furniture and supermarket art. The top of the dresser is covered with perfume bottles and makeup. The door is open to the hall.

DENISE is sitting sideways in an armchair and kicking her heels against it. She watches LIZZIE yank the bottom sheet off the bed and toss it onto the pile of dirty bedding.

Lizzie grabs a clean sheet from the dresser and starts to unfold it, but has trouble with it. She stamps her foot.

Lizzie finishes untangling the sheet and glances at the door as Lou steps into the room.

Lou sits down in the armchair and watches the girls. Lizzie and Denise continue tucking in the sheet. Denise stops and pulls something out a little way.

Lizzie rushes around to her side of the bed. Denise pulls the magazine out and stares at Lizzie.

Lou climbs out of the chair and walks over. Lizzie's had an idea: she goes and closes the door, then comes back to the bed, bends down and shoves her hand eagerly between the mattresses. Denise and Lou join her. They pull out more magazines and then settle down on the floor to look at them.

They all stare at the pictures in silence.

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SCENE TWENTY—INT. CLASSROOM—DAY

MISS RIVERA, a pretty, young teacher, is standing at the front of the class. She turns to look as LOU enters. Her face is radiant.

Lou walks toward her seat as Miss Rivera turns back towards the class.

Lou is confused. She turns to DENISE, who's sitting behind her.

Lou looks surprised and turns back to stare at her teacher. Meanwhile, the students are throwing more questions at their teacher. Miss Rivera gestures for them to quiet down.

The kids start to settle down. Lou stares thoughtfully at the teacher.

She points to the board behind her.

I've written some new ones on the board for today. They're a little more complicated. Who wants to come up and diagram the first one?

Lou and two others raise their hands eagerly.

Lou comes up to the board and studies the first example:

Close up of her hand as she writes the first two words. Then the screen changes, and we see white words scratched directly onto the black emulsion. The text is presented, one word at a time, in this style.

Close up of Lou's hand on the board as she writes, "on fire." She turns to the teacher with a distracted countenance.

At the sound of her teacher's voice, Lou comes out of her thoughts, gives a small smile and leaves the frame.

FADE TO:

SCENE TWENTY ONE—INT. LOU'S KITCHEN—DAY

LOU is standing at the kitchen counter. She's wearing her dad's old fishing vest, dressed for adventure. She glances towards the voices coming from the next room. Her MOTHER, 35, and her sister ANABELLE are having one of their fights. Lou looks disgusted—she's heard it all a million times before.

Quietly, so as not to attract attention, she opens one of the overhead cabinets, takes out a can of Vienna sausages and crams it into her vest pocket.

Next is a packet of beef jerky. Lou quietly closes the cabinet door and heads across the room.

Lou opens a cookie jar and takes out a handful of Fig Newtons. She puts two large handfuls of cookies in another vest pocket.

As Lou puts the lid back on the cookie jar, it makes a bang. She winces.

Lou slips out of the frame.

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SCENE TWENTY TWO—EXT. TREE HOUSE—DAY

LOU is climbing the ladder that leads to the tree house. We hear SUMMER SOUNDS—birds, lawn mowers, kids playing—mixed with AFRICAN SOUNDS—the roar of lions and elephants, the thundering of large herds, etc. Lou reaches the platform. It's more "furnished" than before—from nearby branches hang a pair of binoculars, a canteen, a poncho. The AFRICAN SOUNDS grow louder, dominating the local sound. Lou squats down, takes the stolen goods from her pockets and arranges them with her other stash. She looks around, checking to see that base camp is still as she left it. Seems to be all right. Maybe it's time for a cool drink—that was a long trek through the bush. She grabs the canteen and unscrews the cap. The AFRICAN SOUNDS become confused. VOICES intrude. Familiar voices. Through the leaves, Lou can see her back porch. ANABELLE bursts through the door.

She slams the door and sits down on the steps with her head in her hands. Lou stares at her sister for a moment, then lies down on her back, digs a slightly crushed Fig Newton from her shirt pocket and takes a big bite. She chews slowly and stares into the leafy sky.

FADE TO:

We see a scene from an old feature film, "Tomboy", in which a MAN—the father of the lead character—and the TEACHER at the school to which he's just brought his daughter, are having a private talk.

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

The boy and girl stop playing ball.

Their conversation is interrupted by another yell.

The boy hands Cindy her basketball. She walks disconsolately towards the house.

FADE TO:

SCENE TWENTY FOUR—INTERVIEWS AND INT. MAUREEN'S BEDROOM & KITCHEN—NIGHT

It's the slumber party at MAUREEN'S house. Everyone is there: LOU, BETSY, DENISE, LIZZIE, JANICE, and TRACY. There's the chaos & excitement of being all together and essentially alone: Maureen's parents are nowhere in sight. During the course of the scene, they go from being dressed in play clothes to being in their pajamas.

The following vignettes, shot in a documentary style, are intercut with interviews.

THE SEANCE GAME: The room is in subdued light. Denise is lying on the floor with her eyes closed. All the other girls are kneeling around her, with heads bent, eyes closed, and the index finger of each hand under the supine girl. Betsy is sitting at Denise's head, massaging her temples and telling a scary story in a hushed voice.

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

Betsy has reached the climax of the story.

THE FAINTING GAME: One at a time, a girl hyperventilates for 15 seconds and then another girl grabs her from behind and squeezes as hard as possible until the girl faints. They yell, "Now do it to me! Do it to me!" Lou almost faints and is very excited by it, but then Betsy really does faint, falling to the floor with a loud thud.

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

SEVENTEEN MAGAZINE/CARD GAMES: Betsy and Maureen and Janice lie on the bed and look through "Seventeen" magazine.

They turn the page and exclaim.

Meanwhile, Lou, Lizzie, Denise and Tracy sit on the floor and play a game of gin rummy. Lou notices with jealousy the intimacy between Betsy and Maureen.

During this segment, a part of "Cry Myself to Sleep" is heard playing in the background.

THE TRUTH OR DARE GAME: The girls, in their pajamas, are in the middle of a game.

Maureen glances slyly at Betsy.

All the girls shout out "Who? Who?! Tell us?" but Maureen shakes her head.

The girls groan in disappointment.

Lizzie looks around for her victim.

Betsy looks conspiratorially at Maureen, then grins sheepishly.

Another shout fills the room, this time with Janice and Lizzie saying he's cute and Denise and Lou saying he's ugly. Betsy gets defensive.

The other girls continue to argue.

The banter continues. Betsy stands her ground.

Maureen eyes the room, but she already knows who her victim is.

Maureen's eyes narrow.

Betsy looks nervously at Maureen. Lou shifts in her seat.

Maureen looks at Betsy and smirks. Betsy is uncomfortable and looks back at Lou, who hangs her head. The other girls shrug, not understanding.

SLEEPING: The girls are asleep, scattered about on the floor. Lou sleeps slightly off to one side, while Betsy and Maureen are seen on the bed.

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SCENE TWENTY FIVE—EXT. BRONX ZOO—DAY

In a short series of transitional shots, we see LOU, BETSY and MAUREEN going to various animal exhibits at the zoo. Betsy and Maureen are gossiping and paying almost no attention to the exhibits or to Lou. They point at people, whisper, giggle when they pass a couple making out on a bench, etc.

INTERVIEW INTERVAL

A big splash as several penguins dive off their concrete glacier and swim around. Lou stands with Betsy and Maureen in front of the pool.

Maureen laughs, while Lou stares at the water.

Betsy and Maureen have turned away from the penguins.

The girls grimace: parents. Betsy wants to change the subject.

Lou turns to her friends and interrupts them.

Betsy wriggles her nose.

Lou takes a step forward.

She takes a step towards Betsy and starts to rub her nose. Betsy is surprised, then goes along with it good naturedly. They stop and giggle. Maureen rolls her eyes.

Lou is irritated by Maureen's remark and starts to walk towards the next exhibit. Betsy hangs back ever so slightly, waiting until Maureen takes a step to leave. They exit.

In a close up, a lioness paces back and forth. Lou is staring intently into a cage. Betsy and Maureen can be seen at a slight distance, talking animatedly together.

Lou is hypnotized by the movement of the animal but she hates feeling left out, and starts to walk over to her friends.

Lou sits down on the bench and breaks into their conversation.

Maureen stops talking and stares at Lou.

Betsy looks at Lou. She's heard her talk about this before, but never quite so seriously. What's going on?

She sways a bit, as if showing off her fabulous fur. Betsy's definitely impressed, but Maureen wants to nail her victory.

Betsy looks for Lou's reaction.

Betsy doesn't move. Maureen gives an exasperated sigh and wanders off. Betsy turns to Lou.

Betsy is very distressed. She doesn't understand what's going on with Lou and she's lost sight of Maureen. Lou still doesn't answer and looks like she's not going to. Betsy looks around as if for help, then realizes there's nothing to be done.