Woman in Gold Page #5

---

She gives him a look. He flounders, keeps digging.

RANDY (CONT’D)

What I mean is..you know how house-

mates argue, like about leaving

dishes in the sink and stuff like

that.

She gives him nothing. Randy digs some more.

RANDY (CONT’D)

So you won’t be arguing. About

dishes. Is what I mean. Coz she’s

dead.

It’s agony. He’s reached the end. No more space to dig.

RANDY (CONT’D)

I’m sorry. That was..it was a joke.

Well, it was supposed to be a joke.

She holds it for a beat.

MARIA:

I’m glad you went for law and not

stand-up comedy.

RANDY:

You’re not alone there.

She reaches for a box, opens it, takes out a faded old

postcard of the Klimt portrait of Adele, hands it to him.

MARIA:

Here she is - my Aunt Adele,

painted by Gustav Klimt.

RANDY:

That’s quite a painting.

MARIA:

It’s magnificent. She was taken off

the wall of our home by the Nazis.

Since then, she has been hanging in

the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.

RANDY:

And now you want to be reunited.

MARIA:

Wouldn’t that be lovely?

RANDY:

It would make you a rich woman, I’m

sure.

MARIA:

And you think that’s what it’s

about, do you?

Randy is slightly taken aback and admonished. With her hand

she indicates the many boxes that lay piled and scattered

across the room:
a family’s history. She picks up an old book

-a copy of the famous children’s stories Struwwelpeter - and

runs her hand across the cover. He notices the book.

MARIA (CONT’D)

I have to do what I can to keep the

memories alive. Because people

forget, you know. And then, there’s

justice.

And he catches something in her eyes - the memory of a long-

lost past and a long-forgotten wrong.

EXT. MARIA’S GARDEN. NIGHT.

Under the warm Californian night, Maria and Randy are sitting

in her garden. Randy is holding the postcard of Adele now;

Maria is holding the letters.

MARIA:

After the war they returned a

couple of paintings to us which

paid for my nephew’s education. But

we had to sign export permits to

relinquish any claims to the five

Klimts including that portrait of

my aunt.

RANDY:

Export permits?

MARIA:

The Klimts were deemed national

treasures so we weren’t allowed to

take them out of the country even

though they belonged to us. So we

signed them over.

RANDY:

Just like that?

MARIA:

We didn’t have the strength to

fight, we were just grateful to be

alive. All we wanted to do was

mourn our dead. And there was

another important reason we didn’t

contest it.

RANDY:

What was that?

MARIA:

We were told that Adele had left

the paintings to the Belvedere in

her will.

RANDY:

Had she?

MARIA:

We always thought so. Then I read

these letters.

Rate this script:3.8 / 11 votes