ONE MAN’S PART
-Original screenplay by Richard Hine
EXT. EMPTY STREET - MORNING
Two bicycles cycle past quickly. They are being ridden by R and G, two figures dressed in hoodies and scarves. One of them holds up his hand and stops, the other brakes suddenly to avoid a collision. R pulls down his scarf and opens his mouth to speak, then closes it and sighs. He is about to set off again when he notices a coin in the middle of the road, picks it up and tosses it in the air.
R
Flip you for it!
G
Okay, heads.
R catches the coin and covers it with his hand. G leans in for a closer look, and R uncovers the coin, which is tails.
G
Bugger.
R
I think we can safely say we’re back.
G
Back where?
R
I don’t know.
G
You don’t know what?
R
I don’t know! Come on, let’s go.
R hands G the coin.
G
Go where?
R
(frustrated)
Wherever we were going.
G
Which was where?
R points forwards down the road.
R
That way.
G
And why were we going that way?
R
(becoming more annoyed)
Why do we do anything?
G
It’s just what we do, I suppose.
There is an uncomfortable pause as R and G stare at each other, before R points his head to indicate that they are leaving. R cycles off. G looks briefly at the coin, then drops it and follows after R. A BUSINESSMAN dressed in a black suit walks along the same street, he has a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He stops at the coin, bends down, picks it up, and inspects both sides - it is a double-headed coin. The Businessman puts the coin in his pocket.
INT. OFFICE - MORNING
The Businessman opens a door and steps into a small office - he halts abruptly when he sees another man, the OFFICE DWELLER, wearing a suit and glasses, sitting at a desk with papers in his hand. The Businessman checks the number of the door.
BUSINESSMAN
Can I help you?
OFFICE DWELLER
Can I help you?
BUSINESSMAN
You appear to be in my office.
OFFICE DWELLER
That’s funny, because you appear to be in my office.
BUSINESSMAN
What is… no, you see, I work here.
OFFICE DWELLER
And what do you think I’m doing?
BUSINESSMAN
That’s what I’m trying to ascertain.
OFFICE DWELLER
It was a rhetorical question.
BUSINESSMAN
To me it was a genuine question.
OFFICE DWELLER
And to me it was rhetorical.
BUSINESSMAN
Well mine wasn’t.
OFFICE DWELLER
That doesn’t mean I have to have an answer.
BUSINESSMAN
It means you could.
OFFICE DWELLER
Hmm. Could I?
BUSINESSMAN
(with sarcasm)
Was that rhetorical?
OFFICE DWELLER
No, that was genuine.
BUSINESSMAN
(becoming angry)
But you are not.
OFFICE DWELLER
And I suppose you are?
BUSINESSMAN
That was rhetorical.
There is an uneasy pause.
OFFICE DWELLER
I’m sorry, will you excuse me?
The Businessman furrows his brow at the Office Dweller before leaving, closing the door behind him.
INT. RECEPTION - MORNING
A RECEPTIONIST sits at a desk, she is ending a phone call as the Businessman approaches. She hangs up the phone and smiles at the Businessman, but he speaks before she has a chance to.
BUSINESSMAN
Thank you.
RECEPTIONIST
Excuse me?
BUSINESSMAN
Hm?
RECEPTIONIST
Can I help you?
BUSINESSMAN
Yes, actually, I have this briefcase, but I don’t know what I’m to do with it.
RECEPTIONIST
I see, and what’s inside it?
BUSINESSMAN
Well, I’m not sure.
RECEPTIONIST
Why don’t you look?
BUSINESSMAN
Because it doesn’t matter.
RECEPTIONIST
How can you be sure if you haven’t looked?
BUSINESSMAN
Whatever’s in there, it doesn’t matter. Not yet anyway.
RECEPTIONIST
Not yet?
BUSINESSMAN
When it’s time for it to matter, then it will matter.
RECEPTIONIST
(increasingly confused)
If you don’t know what’s in there, how will you know when it’s time for it to matter?
BUSINESSMAN
I suppose I won’t.
RECEPTIONIST
How do you know it doesn’t matter now?
BUSINESSMAN
…I don’t.
RECEPTIONIST
(exasperated)
Then why don’t you look inside?
BUSINESSMAN
Because what’s inside it doesn’t matter.
EXT. EMPTY ROAD - MORNING
The Businessman walks down the same road as the first scene, in the same direction. He thinks aloud to himself.
BUSINESSMAN
I just don’t understand why I have to do it all. I understand that I do it, but never why. Sometimes I feel like the world’s a stage, and I’m left asking what part I play, when I shall exit.
The Businessman stops and stares at a spot on the ground. He checks the road behind him, which is still empty. He hurriedly opens his briefcase and pulls out the coin, before positioning it carefully in the exact spot where it began. He closes his briefcase and continues down the road. R and G cycle to the coin, R holds up his hand and stops, G slams on his brakes.
