FADE IN:

CU on a hand.  It's a bit weathered, but not too old.  The
fingernails are dirty.


SERIES OF SHOTS

A) The hand pulls a piece of charcoal out of the fireplace and
starts to draw on a wooden surface.  It draws straight lines,
curves, shapes.  The entire design never quite comes into view.

B) The hand is joined by its companion.  The pair of hands uses
a variety of woodworking tools to cut the drawn pattern into the
wood.  The entire design is still a mystery.

C) The hands have completed carving.  They're now painting.  The
hands are dressing up the carving with color.  One color here,
another color there.  All without seeing the entire design.

D) The hands spread a rug across the pattern, obscuring it from
view.


                                                        FADE OUT.


FADE IN:

Inside a cottage in the French countryside in the 16th century.
HENRI DE VALOIS is separating out some bundles of herbs.  He's a
farmer who also fancies himself an artist.

He sets the herbs next to a bowl, a cup of water, and a knife on
a low table.  The table is next to the same rug that was last
seen covering the design on the floor.

He moves to a corner where there is a canvas propped on an
easel.  The canvas is covered with rough charcoal lines.

He reaches into a hiding place behind the easel to pull out a
book.  He takes to book to the table and sets it beside the
other items.

Certain that he is ready, Henri whips back the rug to finally
fully expose his work.  It is a very intricate and colorful
pentagram in a circle.  There are other shapes scattered all
over the pentagram.

He places the book, herbs, knife, cup, and bowl within the
design in their specifically designated locations.  With all of
his props in place, he kneels in the pentagram.

He opens the book to a marked page.  He holds out his hands with
his palms facing up and begins an incantation.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   L'esprit de la terre,           Spirit of earth, come to
   venez à moi!                    me!

He picks up some herbs and breaks some into the bowl.  He then
returns the herbs to their place in the pentagram and raises his
hands again.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   L'esprit de l'air, venez à      Spirit of air, come to
   moi!                            me!

He repeats the part with the herbs and hands.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   L'esprit du feu, venez à        Spirit of fire, come to
   moi!                            me!

Again, the bit with the herbs and hands.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   L'esprit de l'eau, venez à      Spirit of water, come to
   moi!                            me!

He picks up the cup and pours some water into the bowl.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Les esprits, acceptez           Spirits, accept my
   m'essence!                      essence!

He picks up the knife, cuts one of his palms, and bleeds into
the bowl.  As the drops of blood fall into the bowl, smoke rises
from the bowl.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Saisissez ma mémoire!           Seize my mind!  Seize that
   Saisissez ce qui est moi!       which is me!  Capture my
   Capturez mon esprit si que      spirit so that I may
   je peux continuer avec          continue with thee!
   vous!

A thunderclap peals in the distance.

Henri closes his eyes and holds his position for a moment.  He
eventually opens his eyes.  He binds his hand to stop the
bleeding then rises and carries the bowl to the easel.

He returns for the book, which he carefully stashes back into its
hiding place and pulls out a thin board to us as a pallet on
which to start mixing his paints.

He puts a small pile of dark green powder on the pallet.  He
uses a short stick to form a depression in the center.  He pours
a couple drops of oil into the depression then mixes it in,
creating his green paint.

He uses a small silver spoon to add some of the liquid from the
bowl into his green paint, then mixes it all together.  He picks
out a brush and starts painting with his fluid enhanced paint.


LATER

There are a few colors on Henri's pallet.  Henri mixes another
color.  He goes through the same routine, adding oil to powder,
then liquid to paint.  He uses a couple of the other paints
already on his pallet to compose the color.


LATER

Henri's painting is nearly complete.  He's adding the finishing
touches.  It is unremarkable in appearance.


                                                        FADE OUT.


FADE IN:

It's early morning in Henri's cottage.  He is sleeping under a
thin blanket.  His painting is sitting in the corner, covered by
a cloth.

The door suddenly bursts open as two MEN rush in to grab him.
He is understandably confused.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Qu'est-ce que se passe?         What's happening?

The men don't answer.  They just pull Henri to his feet.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Qu'est-ce qui est vous?         Who are you?

He still gets the silent treatment.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Qu'est-ce que vous voulez       What do you want with me?
   avec moi?

The local BARON strides in through the door followed by his
LACKEY.  The baron and Henri look at each other in silence for a
few seconds.

          BARON                           SUBTITLE
   Henri de Valois, tu as          Henry of Valois, you have
   accusés de sorcellerie.         been accused of
                                   witchcraft.

          HENRI                           SUBTITLE
   Non, c'est un mensonge!         No, it's a lie!

The baron looks at Henri with confidence.  Henri looks back with
fear in his eyes.  The baron sweeps the rug aside with his boot,
exposing the pentagram.  He looks back to Henri, who has lowered
his head in defeat.

          BARON                           SUBTITLE
   Enlevez-le.                     Take him away.

The guards drag Henri through the door.  The baron looks around.
He notices the painting.  He walks to it and whips back the
cloth covering.  He stares at the painting for a moment, as if
mesmerized.  He finally turns to his lackey.

          BARON                           SUBTITLE
   Prends à la maison.             Take this home.

The lackey bows.

          LACKEY                          SUBTITLE
   Oui, mon seigneur.              Yes, my lord.

The baron looks around a little more.  He finally focuses on the
pentagram.  He gestures to it.

          BARON                           SUBTITLE
   Et brûles ceci.                 And burn this.

The lackey bows again.

          LACKEY                          SUBTITLE
   Oui, mon seigneur.              Yes, my lord.

The baron strides out through the door.  The lackey looks at the
painting.

ZOOM IN on the painting.


                                                    MATCH CUT TO:

CU of the painting.

ZOOM OUT to reveal PHILIPPE and VERONIQUE, a young couple,
looking at some paintings in a small second-hand shop.  They are
currently looking at an unframed seascape.  Philippe would
rather be watching the game.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Je pense que celui-ci           I think that one would
   regarderait agréable dans       look nice in the bedroom.
   la chambre à coucher.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Ouais.  Nous aurions            Yeah.  We'd need to find
   besoin de trouver le cadre      the right frame, though.
   exact, bien que.

They move on to the next painting, a framed Japanese landscape.
Philippe doesn't care about the painting.  He just wants to get
out of there.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Celui-ci a un cadre.            This one's got a frame.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Non, je ne suis pas une         No, I'm not a big fan of
   grande fan du style             the Japanese style.
   japonais.

They move on to look at Henri's painting.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Elle n'est pas très             It's not very impressive,
   impressionnant, est cela?       is it?

Philippe says nothing.  He's just standing there, staring at the
painting.  All he sees is the painting.  All he hears is a
faint, ethereal sound.  If he was paying attention to Veronique,
it looks as if she's speaking in slow motion without sound.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Philippe?                       Philip?

He continues to stare, so she smacks him in the shoulder.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Philippe!                       Philip!

He snaps out of it, not realizing what just happened.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Quoi?                           What?

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Tu dévisageais.                 You were staring.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   J'ai pensé que j'ai vu          I thought I saw something
   quelque chose dans le           in it.  Guess I was
   tableau.  Je crois que je       mistaken.
   mal comprendre.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Tu mal comprendre, aller        You were mistaken,
   bien.  Ne penses pas à          alright.  Don't even think
   même cela.                      about it.

She pulls him away.  As they leave, he looks back over his
shoulder to look at the painting again.  The door closes, the
shop is quiet.

Until Philippe rushes back in by himself.  He goes to the
SHOPKEEPER.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Le tableau...celui-ci sur       The painting...the one on
   l'extrémité.                    the end.

He points to illustrate.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Vous l'avez mis à part          Set it aside for me.  I'll
   pour moi.  Je reviendrai        come back later to get it.
   plus décédé l'obtenir.

          SHOPKEEPER                      SUBTITLE
   D'accord...                     Okay...

He rushes back out before Veronique can get too suspicious.  The
shopkeeper watches him with a "who was that masked man" look on
her face.

ZOOM IN on the painting.


                                                    MATCH CUT TO:

CU of the painting.

ZOOM OUT to reveal Philippe sitting in his den at home, staring
at the painting.  He still hears that ethereal sound when he
looks at the painting.  It's like an other-worldly chorus in the
background.

A door opens and closes in another part of the house.

          VERONIQUE (O.S.)                SUBTITLE
   Philippe?                       Philip?

He doesn't respond.


IN THE KITCHEN - CONTINUOUS

Veronique sets a grocery bag on the counter.  She tries calling
again.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Chéri?                          Honey?


IN THE DEN - CONTINUOUS

Philippe doesn't even hear Veronique.  All he cares about right
now is the painting.  Veronique's voice is a bit more insistent
this time.

          VERONIQUE (O.S.)                SUBTITLE
   Philippe!                       Philip!

She looks in the den, sees Philippe.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Pourquoi tu ne m'as pas         Why didn't you answer me?
   répondu?

Philippe is lost in his own world.  Veronique is a little
concerned.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Chéri?                          Honey?

She looks at him.  He looks at the painting.  She follows his
line of sight to see what is holding his attention so completely and
sees the painting.  Her displeasure is obvious.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Qu'est-ce que cette chose       What is that thing doing
   fait ici?                       here?

He still doesn't even realize that she is in the room...until
she moves in front of the painting to face him directly.  As
soon as she blocks his view, the ethereal sound stops.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Qu'est-ce que tu fais?          What are you doing?  Get
   Sors!                           out of the way!

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Que parles-tu?  Qu'est-ce       What are you talking
   qu'a tort avec tu?              about?  What's wrong with
                                   you?

Philippe gets up and shoves Veronique aside.

          PHILIPPE                        SUBTITLE
   Sors, salope.                   Out of the way, woman.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Philippe!                       Philip!

He just sits back down and looks at his painting.  Nothing else
matters now.  Veronique tries to get his attention without
blocking his view of the painting.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Philippe!  Parles à moi!        Philip!  Talk to me!

He continues to ignore her.  She storms out of the den.


LATER

Philippe is sporting a couple days of beard growth.  He is
drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.  The painting has
become his life.  Veronique enters the room.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   Je ne peux pas tolérer ce       I can't take this anymore.
   plus.  J'abandonne.             I'm leaving.

He shows the usual lack of response.  Again she does the
unthinkable...she moves in front of the painting.  Philippe
looks at her with daggers in his eyes.

          VERONIQUE                       SUBTITLE
   As-tu entendu ce que j'ai       Did you hear what I said?
   dit?  J'abandonne.              I'm leaving.

He stands and moves to his desk.  He opens a drawer, pulls out a
gun, and shoots Veronique before she even has a chance to react.
She crumples at the foot of the painting.  He calmly puts away
the gun before he returns to his painting.


                                                        FADE OUT.


FADE IN:

The second-hand shop.  The painting is back on the wall.  ROBERT
is staring at the painting.  All there is for him is the
painting and that beautiful ethereal sound.


                                                   FADE TO BLACK.


                             The End