Oleanna Script - Dialogue Transcript

Oleanna Script

  
  
What did they say?

  
Did you speak
to the real estate...

  
Where is she?

  
Well, well.
Where are her notes?

  
The notes we took with her.

  
I took the notes?

  
I don't think so.

  
No. We aren't going
to lose the house.

  
Look, I'm not minimizing it.

  
The easement?

  
Did she say easement?
What did she say?

  
Is it a term of art?

  
Are we bound by it?

  
I'm sorry. Are we...

  
Yes. Bound by it.

  
Look. Look.

  
Before the other side goes home,
all right?

  
A term of art.

  
Because. That's right.

  
The yard for the boy.
That's the whole...

  
I'll meet you there.
Is the realtor there?

  
Tell her to show you
the basement again.

  
Look at the...
I'm leaving in 10 or 15.

  
Yes. No, no.
I'll meet you at the new house.

  
That's a good...
If he thinks it's necessary.

  
You tell Jerry to meet,
all right?

  
No, we aren't going to lose
the deposit, all right?

  
I'm sure it's going to be fine.

  
I love you, too.

  
I love you, too.

  
I will.

  
All right.

  
What is a term of art?

  
- I'm sorry?
- What is a term of art?

  
Is that what
you want to talk about?

  
To talk about?

  
Let's take the mysticism
out of it, shall we, Carol?

  
Don't you think?
I'll tell you.

  
When you have some thing
which must be broached...

  
Don't I think? Did I...

  
Did I say something wrong?

  
No. I'm sorry. No.

  
You're right.
I'm somewhat rushed, as you see.

  
I'm very sorry. You're right.

  
What is a term of art?

  
It seems to mean a term which
has come through its use...

  
to mean something more specific
than the words would...

  
to someone not acquainted
with them, indicate.

  
That, I believe, is what
a term of art would mean.

  
You don't know what it means.

  
I'm not sure
I know what it means.

  
It's one of those things
that you look them up...

  
or have someone
explain them to you...

  
you say "Aha," and
then you immediately forget.

  
You don't do that.

  
- Forget things?
- Yes.

  
- Everybody does that.
- No, they don't.

  
- They don't?
- No.

  
- Everybody does that.
- Why would they do that?

  
I don't know.

  
Because
it doesn't interest them.

  
No.

  
I think so, though.

  
I'm sorry
that I was distracted.

  
You don't
have to say that to me.

  
You paid me the compliment,
or the obeisance...

  
of coming in here.

  
All right.
Sit down, please.

  
Carol, I find
that I am at a standstill.

  
- I find...
- What?

  
One moment.
In regard to your...

  
You're buying a new house.

  
- No, let's get on with it.
- Get on?

  
Believe me, I know how
potentially humiliating these...

  
I have no desire
other than to help you.

  
But... I won't even say but.

  
I'll say, as I go back...

  
- I'm just trying...
- No. It will not do.

  
- What will not do?
- Your work.

  
I sit in class. I take notes.

  
Yes, I understand.

  
What I'm trying to tell you
is that some basic...

  
One moment. Some basic
missed communication...

  
I'm doing what I'm told.
I bought your book.

  
No, I'm sure you...

  
I'm doing what I'm told.
It's difficult for me.

  
- Lots of the language...
- Please.

  
The language...
The things that you say.

  
I'm sorry, no.
I don't think that that's true.

  
It is true. Why would I...

  
I'll tell you why.

  
You're an incredibly
bright girl.

  
No! You're
an incredibly bright girl.

  
You have no problem with...
No. I'II...

  
Who's kidding who here?

  
I'll tell you why.

  
I think you're angry.

  
- Why would I...
- Wait one moment.

  
It is true. I have problems.

  
Everybody...

  
I come from a different social,
a different economic...

  
- When I came to this school...
- Yes, quite.

  
Does that mean nothing?

  
Look, look...
Here, please. Sit down.

  
Sit down.

  
"I think that the ideas
contained in this work...

  
"express the author's feelings
in a way that he intended...

  
"based on his results."

  
What can that mean?
Do you see?

  
The best that I...

  
I'm saying that perhaps
this course...

  
No, no, no, you can't.

  
- How? Carol!
- I have to pass it.

  
- I have to pass this course.
- Well, either...

  
Either the criteria for
judging progress in the class...

  
No, no, no!
I have to pass it.

  
Now, look,
I'm a human being...

  
I did what you told me.

  
I did everything.
I read your book.

  
You told me to buy your book
and read it.

  
Everything you say, I do.

  
- Look.
- Everything I'm told.

  
I'm not your father.

  
What?
Did I say you were my father?

  
- No.
- Why did you say that?

  
Why did you say that to me?

  
Hello. Yes. Jerry.

  
I know what time it is.

  
Yes, I'm trying to get
out of here, believe me.

  
Why do we need these notes?

  
You're right.
I'm going to find my notes.

  
I'll be there in ten minutes.

  
What is it you would have me do?

  
We are two people, all right?

  
Both of whom have subscribed
to certain arbitrary...

  
You have to help me.

  
Certain institutional forms.
That's right.

  
You may say
they are false or arbitrary.

  
- You have to help me.
- Excuse me one moment, please.

  
- You have to help me.
- Excuse me.

  
I've had a long day,
and it is not over yet.

  
That's not your problem.
I understand.

  
- You have to help me.
- What do you want me to do?

  
How can I go back
and tell them the grades...

  
I'm sorry for you. I am.

  
There is... you're right...

  
a harshness in
the methodology of grading.

  
But we have accepted it,
both of us.

  
And for better or worse...

  
we must abide by the system
which we have chosen...

  
don't you think?

  
I think so.
I thank you for coming in.

  
If you'd like to reschedule
an appointment...

  
with my office
for a future time...

  
I'd be happy to talk
with you then. Thank you.

  
What do you want me to do?

  
Teach me.
I want you to teach me.

  
- I tried to teach you.
- I read your book.

  
- You don't understand it.
- No.

  
Perhaps it's not well written.

  
No, no.
I want to understand it.

  
What don't you understand?

  
Any of it.

  
What you're trying to say
when you talk about...

  
Yes?

  
"Virtual warehousing
of the young."

  
Virtual warehousing
of the young.

  
If we artificially
prolong adolescence...

  
And about the curse
of modern education.

  
Look, it's just a course.
It's just a book.

  
No. There are people
out there...

  
people who came here to know
something they didn't know.

  
Who came here to be helped.

  
So someone
would help them...

  
to do something,
to know something.

  
What do they say?
To get on in the world.

  
How can I do that if I fail?

  
But I don't understand.

  
I don't understand
what anything means.

  
And I walk around
from morning till night...

  
with this one thought
in my head... I'm stupid.

  
No one thinks you're stupid.

  
- What am I, then?
- I think you're angry.

  
Many people are.

  
I have an appointment
I have to make...

  
an appointment
which is rather pressing.

  
Though I sympathize
with your concerns...

  
and though
I wish I had the time...

  
this was not
a previously scheduled meeting.

  
You think I'm nothing.

  
I have an appointment
with a realtor and my wife.

  
- You think I'm stupid.
- No, I certainly do not.

  
- You said it. You did.
- When? No, I never did.

  
Or never would say that
to a student.

  
You said,
"What can that mean?"

  
"What can that mean?"

  
What did that mean to you?

  
That I'm stupid
and I'll never learn.

  
That's what that meant,
and you're right.

  
But, then,
what am I doing here?

  
If you thought I...

  
Nobody wants me,
and nobody tells me anything.

  
And I sit there
in the corner in the back...

  
and everybody's talking
about this all the time...

  
and concepts and precepts and...

  
What in the world
are you talking about?

  
And I read your book...

  
and they said,
"Fine, go in that class"...

  
because you talked about
responsibility to the young.

  
I don't know what it means,
and I'm failing.

  
- Maybe...
- No, you're right.

  
I failed. Flunk me out.
It's garbage.

  
Everything I do...

  
"The ideas
contained in this work...

  
"express the author's feelings."

  
That's right.

  
I know I'm stupid.
I know what I am.

  
I know what I am, Professor.
You don't have to tell me.

  
It's pathetic, isn't it?

  
Uh-huh. Sit down.

  
Sit down, please?

  
Please, sit down.

  
- Why?
- I want to talk to you.

  
- Why?
- Just sit down, please.

  
Sit down!

  
Will you, please?

  
What?

  
I know what
you're talking about.

  
No, you don't.

  
- I think I do.
- How can you?

  
I'll tell you a story
about myself.

  
Do you mind?

  
I was raised
to think myself stupid.

  
What do you mean?

  
Just what I said.
I was brought up...

  
and my earliest and
most persistent memories...

  
are of being told
that I was stupid.

  
"You have such intelligence.

  
"Why must
you behave so stupidly?"

  
Or "Can't you understand?"

  
And I could not understand.

  
What?

  
The simplest problem
was beyond me.

  
It was a mystery.

  
- What was a mystery?
- How people learn.

  
How I could learn.

  
Which is what
I've been speaking of in class.

  
And, of course,
you can't hear it, Carol.

  
Of course you can't.

  
If you are told...
Listen to this...

  
If the young child is told
that he cannot understand...

  
then he takes it
as a description of himself.

  
What am I?

  
I am that
which cannot understand.

  
And I saw you back there...

  
when we were speaking
of the concept...

  
I can't understand any of them.

  
Then that's my fault.

  
That is not your fault.
And that is not verbiage.

  
That is what I firmly hold
to be the truth.

  
And I'm sorry.

  
And I owe you an apology.

  
Why?

  
I suppose I've had
some things on my mind.

  
We're buying a house...

  
People said
that you were stupid?

  
Yes.

  
Yes.

  
When?

  
I'll tell you when.
Through my life.

  
In my childhood.

  
Perhaps they stopped,
but I heard them continue.

  
And what did they say?

  
They said I was incompetent.
You see?

  
And when I am tested,
the feelings of my youth...

  
about the very subject
of learning come up...

  
and I feel
unworthy and unprepared...

  
- Yes.
- And I feel that I must fail.

  
But then you do fail.

  
You have to, don't you?

  
A pilot... flying a plane.

  
The pilot is flying the plane.

  
He thinks, "Oh, my God,
my mind's been drifting.

  
"Oh, my God, what kind of
a cursed imbecile am I...

  
"that I, with so precious
a cargo of life in my charge...

  
"would allow my attention
to wander?

  
"Why was I born?

  
"How deluded are those
who put their trust in me?"

  
Et cetera and so on.
And he crashes the plane.

  
- He could just...
- That's right.

  
"My attention
wandered for a moment."

  
"I had a thought
I did not like, but now..."

  
That's what I'm telling you.

  
"It's time
to put my attention..."

  
You see, it is not...

  
It is not magic.

  
I know in situations like these,
you will think...

  
"I must, but I can't."

  
And you will think,
"Why was I born...

  
"to be the laughingstock
of a world...

  
"in which everyone
is better than I...

  
"where I am
entitled to nothing...

  
"where I cannot learn?"

  
All right.

  
I'm never going
to get out of here today.

  
Is that what I have?

  
I don't know
if I'd put it that way.

  
Listen...

  
I'm talking to you...

  
as I would talk to my son...

  
because that's what I'd like
him to have that I never had.

  
I'm talking to you the way
I wish someone talked to me.

  
I don't know how to do it...

  
other than to be personal
with you, but...

  
Why would you want
to be personal with me?

  
You see,
that's what I'm saying.

  
We can only interpret
the behavior of others...

  
through the screen...

  
Oh, Lord.

  
...the screen we create.

  
Hello.

  
Excuse me a moment.
Hello.

  
No, I'm coming down.

  
I know I did. In a few...

  
Is he coming to the...

  
Yes, I talked to him.

  
We'll meet you at the...

  
No. I've been with a student.

  
It's going to be...

  
This is important, too.

  
Jerry's going to...
I've been with a student.

  
How can you say that?

  
I've... Look.

  
The sooner I get off,
the sooner I'll be down.

  
Isn't that evident?
I love you.

  
Listen... Listen.
I said I love you.

  
It's going to work out
with the house.

  
Because I feel that it is.

  
All right,
I'll be right down.

  
Yes, all right, I did.

  
I'm saying it yet again.
I'll be right...

  
It's going to take
as long as it takes!

  
What was that?

  
There are some problems,
as there usually are...

  
about the final agreements
for the new house.

  
You're buying a new house.

  
That's right.

  
Because of your promotion.

  
I suppose that's right.

  
Why did you stay here with me?

  
- Stay here?
- Yes. When you should have gone.

  
Because I like you.

  
- You like me?
- Yes.

  
Why?

  
Why?

  
Perhaps we're similar.

  
You said everyone has problems.

  
Everyone has problems.

  
- Do they?
- Certainly.

  
- You do.
- Yes.

  
What are they?

  
Well...

  
you are absolutely right.

  
I'm going to take off
the artificial stricture...

  
of teacher and student.

  
Why should my problems be any
more a mystery than your own?

  
Of course I have problems,
as you saw.

  
- With what?
- With my wife. With work.

  
Tell me.

  
Would you like a cup of tea?

  
As I was saying,
I came late to teaching.

  
And I found it artificial...

  
the notion of
"I know, and you do not."

  
I told you, I hated school.

  
I hated teachers.

  
I hated anyone who was
in a position of a boss...

  
because I knew...
I didn't think, mind you...

  
I knew I was going to fail.

  
Late in life,
when I got out from under...

  
when I worked my way out
of the need to fail...

  
How do you do that?

  
I'm going to tell you.

  
You have to look
at what you are...

  
and what you feel
and how you act.

  
And finally, you have to look at
how you act...

  
and say,
"If that's what I did...

  
"that must be what
I think of myself."

  
I don't understand.

  
If I fail all the time...

  
it must be that I think
of myself as a failure.

  
If I don't want to think
of myself as a failure...

  
perhaps I should begin
by succeeding now and again.

  
Look. The tests, you see...

  
which you encounter
in school...

  
in college, in life...

  
were designed for idiots
by idiots.

  
There's no need to fail at them.

  
They're not
a test of your worth.

  
They are a test of
your ability...

  
to retain and spout back
misinformation.

  
Of course you fail them.
They're nonsense.

  
No. No.

  
Yes. They're garbage.

  
They're a joke.

  
How can you say that?

  
Look at me.

  
The tenure committee.

  
The tenure committee
come to judge me.

  
The bad tenure committee.

  
The test. You see?

  
They put me to the test.

  
They had people
voting on me...

  
I wouldn't
employ to wax my car.

  
And yet I go before
the great tenure committee...

  
I have an urge to vomit...

  
to puke my badness
on the table... to show them.

  
I'm no good.
Why would you pick me?

  
They granted you tenure.

  
Oh, no. They announced it.

  
But they haven't signed.

  
You see? At any moment.

  
They might not sign.

  
The house might not go through.

  
They'll find out my dark secret.

  
What is it?

  
There isn't one.

  
But they'll find
an index of my badness.

  
- Index?
- A pointer.

  
A pointer. You see?

  
You see?

  
I understand you.
I know that feeling.

  
Am I entitled to my job
and my nice house...

  
and my wife, my family?
This is what I am saying.

  
That theory
of education which...

  
- I... I...
- What?

  
I want to know about my grade.

  
Of course you do.

  
- Is that bad?
- No.

  
- Is it bad that I asked you?
- No.

  
And I apologize.

  
Of course you want to know
about your grade.

  
Of course you can't
concentrate on any...

  
Wait a moment.

  
- I should go.
- I'll make you a deal.

  
You have to take the call.

  
Let it ring.
I'll make you a deal.

  
You stay here.

  
I'm going to say... Stay here.

  
I'm going to say
it was not you...

  
it was I who was
not paying attention.

  
We'll start
the whole course over.

  
Your grade is an "A."

  
Your final grade is an "A."

  
But the class is only half over.

  
Your grade for
the whole term is an "A"...

  
if you will come back
and meet with me...

  
a few more times.

  
Forget about the paper.
You didn't like it.

  
You didn't like writing it.

  
It's not important.

  
What's important is
that I awake your interest...

  
and that
I answer your questions.

  
- Let's start over.
- With what?

  
Say this is the beginning.

  
- Of what?
- The class.

  
- But we can't start over.
- I say we can.

  
- I say we can.
- But I don't believe it.

  
I know, but it's true.

  
What is the class,
but you and me?

  
There are rules.

  
Well...

  
- We'll break them.
- How can we?

  
We won't tell anybody.

  
Is that all right?

  
I say that it's fine.

  
Why would you do this for me?

  
I like you.

  
Is that so difficult
for you to...

  
There's nobody here
but you and me.

  
All right!

  
I did not understand
when you referred...

  
All right. Yes?

  
When you referred to "hazing."

  
You wrote in your book
about the comparative...

  
- Yes? Yes?
- The comparative...

  
- Are you checking your notes?
- Yes.

  
Tell me in your own words.

  
I want to make sure
I have it right.

  
Of course.
You want to be exact.

  
I want to know
everything that went on...

  
That's very good.

  
I was suggesting, many times
that which we wish to retain...

  
is retained oftentimes better
with less expenditure of effort.

  
Here it is.
You wrote of "hazing."

  
That's correct.
Now, I said "hazing."

  
It means ritualized annoyance.

  
We shove this book at you.
We say, read it.

  
You say you've read it.
I think you're lying.

  
I'll grill you.

  
And when I find out
you've lied...

  
you'll be disgraced,
and your life will be ruined.

  
It's a sick game.
Why do we do it?

  
Does it educate?
In no sense.

  
Well, then, tell me this...

  
what is higher education?

  
It is something other
than useful.

  
What is something
other than useful?

  
All right.
That's a good question.

  
It has become a ritual...

  
it has become
an article of faith...

  
that all must be subjected to.

  
Or to put it differently...

  
that all are entitled
to higher education.

  
- And my point...
- You disagree with that.

  
Let's address that.
What do you think?

  
I don't know.

  
What do you think, though?

  
I don't know.

  
I spoke of it in class.
Do you remember my example?

  
Justice.

  
Can you repeat it to me
without your notes?

  
I ask you as a favor to me...

  
so I can see
if my idea was interesting.

  
- You said justice.
- Yes...

  
That all are entitled to...

  
Yes. To a speedy trial.

  
To a fair trial.

  
But they needn't be given
a trial at all...

  
unless they stand accused.

  
Justice is their right.

  
Should they choose to avail
themselves of it...

  
they should have a fair trial.

  
It does not follow
of necessity...

  
that a person's life
is incomplete...

  
without a trial in it.
You see?

  
My point is,
a confusion between...

  
equity and utility arose.

  
So that we confound
the usefulness...

  
of higher education
with our granted right...

  
to equal access to the same.

  
We, in effect,
create a prejudice toward it...

  
completely independent of...

  
That it is prejudice
we should go to school?

  
- Exactly.
- How can you say that?

  
Good. That's right.

  
Speak up.
What is a prejudice?

  
An unreasoned belief.
We all are subject to it.

  
None of us is not.

  
When it is threatened
or opposed...

  
we feel anger.

  
And we feel, do we not,
as you do now?

  
- Do you not? Good.
- But how can you...

  
Yes. Let us examine. Good.

  
I believe that I'm speaking!

  
I...

  
I'm sorry
that I interrupted you.

  
- That's all right.
- You were saying?

  
I was saying...

  
I was saying...

  
how can you say
in a college class...

  
that college education
is prejudiced?

  
I said that
our predilection for it...

  
- Predilection?
- You know what that means?

  
- Does it mean liking?
- Yes.

  
But how can you say
that college is...

  
That's my job, don't you know?

  
- What is?
- To provoke you.

  
No.

  
Oh, yes, though.

  
- To provoke me?
- That's right.

  
- To make me mad?
- That's right.

  
- To force you...
- To make me mad is your job?

  
To force you to...

  
Listen...

  
Sit down.

  
When I was young,
somebody told me...

  
Are you ready?

  
The rich copulate
less often than the poor.

  
But when they do...

  
they take more of
their clothes off.

  
Years!

  
Years, mind you...

  
I would compare experiences
of my own to this dictum...

  
saying,
"Aha. This fits the norm."

  
Or "This is
a variation from it."

  
What did it mean? Nothing.

  
It was just some jerk thing
some school kid told me...

  
that took up room
inside my head.

  
Somebody told you...

  
and you hold it
as an article of faith...

  
that higher education
is an unassailable good.

  
This notion is so dear to you...

  
that when I question it,
you become angry.

  
Good, I say.

  
Are not those the very things
which we should question?

  
I say college education
since the war...

  
has become
so a matter of course...

  
and such
a fashionable necessity...

  
for those either of...

  
or aspiring to,
the new vast middle class...

  
that we espouse it
as a matter of right...

  
and have ceased to ask
what is it good for?

  
You see my point?

  
What might be some reasons for
the pursuit of higher education?

  
One... a love of learning.

  
Two... the wish for mastery
of a skill.

  
Three...
for economic betterment.

  
I'm keeping you.

  
One moment.
I have to make a note.

  
It's something that I said.

  
No. We're buying a house.

  
You're buying a new house?

  
To go with the tenure.
That's right.

  
Nice house.
Close to the private school.

  
We were speaking
of economic betterment...

  
and I was thinking
of the school tax.

  
School tax?

  
Where is it written...

  
that I have to send my child
to public school?

  
Is it a law...

  
that I must improve
the city's schools...

  
at the expense
of my own interest?

  
And is this not simply...

  
a case of...

  
quote...

  
the white man's burden?

  
End quotation.

  
Good.

  
Does this interest you?

  
No. I'm taking notes.

  
You don't have to take notes.
You can just listen.

  
I want to make sure
I remember it.

  
I'm not lecturing you.

  
I'm just telling you
some things that I think.

  
What do you think?

  
Should all kids go to college?
Why?

  
- To learn.
- But if he does not learn?

  
- Lf the child does not learn?
- Why is he in college?

  
Because he was told
it was his right?

  
Some might find college
instructive.

  
I would hope so.

  
How do they feel being told
they're wasting their time?

  
I don't think
I'm telling them that.

  
You said...

  
"Education was prolonged
and systematic hazing."

  
Yes, it can be so.

  
If education is so bad,
why do you do it?

  
I do it because I love it.

  
Let's...

  
I suggest...

  
you look at the demographics.

  
"Wage-earning capacity.

  
"College and noncollege-educated
men and women, 1855 to 1980."

  
Let's see if we can wring some
worth from these statistics...

  
- No.
- What?

  
I can't understand them...
the charts, the concepts.

  
Charts are simply a tool...

  
When I leave here...
No, I can't.

  
- You can, though.
- No, I don't understand.

  
- What?
- Any of it.

  
Any of it.
I'm smiling in class.

  
I'm smiling the whole time.
What are you talking about?

  
What is everyone talking about?
I don't understand.

  
I don't know
what it means to be here.

  
You tell me I'm intelligent...

  
then you tell me
I shouldn't be here.

  
- It's all right.
- I don't understand!

  
What do you mean?
Who should I listen to?

  
Easy!

  
I don't understand you.

  
I know. It's all right.

  
- I...
- What?

  
I...

  
- What? Tell me.
- I can't tell you.

  
- No. You must.
- I can't.

  
No. Tell me.

  
I'm bad!

  
Oh, God.

  
It's all right.

  
I'm...

  
It's all right.

  
I can't talk about this.

  
It's all right. Tell me.

  
Why do you want to know this?

  
I don't want to know.
I want to know...

  
- I always...
- Good.

  
I always...

  
All of my life...

  
I have never told anyone this.

  
Go on.

  
Go on.

  
- All of my life...
- Yes?

  
I can't talk now.

  
What?

  
Wait a second.

  
I don't get it.

  
You talking about the realtor?

  
She said what?

  
Hold on.

  
What? She what?

  
She can't.

  
She said
the agreement is void.

  
How?
How is the agreement void?

  
That's our house.
I have the paper.

  
When we come down next week
with the payment and paper...

  
that house is...
Wait, wait, wait, wait.

  
Did Jerry... Is Jerry there?

  
Is she there?
Does she have a lawyer?

  
How the hell?

  
It's a question, you said,
of the easement.

  
I don't understand.
It's not the whole agreement.

  
It's just the easement.
Why would she...

  
Put Jerry on.

  
Jerry, what the hell?

  
That's my house.
I'm not coming down.

  
Listen, screw her!

  
I want you to take Grace...

  
you get out of that house.

  
You leave her there,
her and her lawyer.

  
And you tell her
we'll see them in court next...

  
No, leave her there!
Leave her to stew in it.

  
You tell her
we're getting that house...

  
and we are going to...

  
No, I am not coming down.

  
I'll be damned
if I'll sit in the same...

  
You tell her next time
we see her is in court.

  
I... What?

  
What?

  
I don't understand.

  
What about the house?

  
There isn't any problem
with the hou...

  
No, that's all right.

  
I'II... All right.

  
Of course.

  
No. I will. Right away.

  
What is it?

  
It's a surprise party.

  
- It is?
- Yes.

  
A party for you?

  
Yes.

  
Is it your birthday?

  
- No.
- What is it?

  
The tenure announcement.

  
The tenure announcement?

  
They're throwing a party for us
in our new house.

  
- Your new house?
- The house that we're buying.

  
You have to go.

  
It seems that I do.

  
They're proud of you.

  
There are those who would say
it's a form of aggression.

  
What is?

  
A surprise.

  
You see, I love to teach.

  
And I flatter myself
I'm skilled at it.

  
And I love the aspect
of performance.

  
I think I must confess that.

  
When I found I love to teach...

  
I swore that
I would not become...

  
that cold, rigid automaton
of an instructor...

  
which I had encountered
as a child.

  
Now, I was not unconscious...

  
that it was given me
to err upon the other side.

  
And so I asked
and asked myself...

  
if I had engaged in heterodoxy...

  
I will not say gratuitously...

  
for I do not care
to posit orthodoxy...

  
as a given good...

  
But to the detriment
of my students.

  
Yes.

  
As I said...

  
when the possibility
of tenure opened...

  
and, of course,
I had long pursued it...

  
I was, of course,
happy and covetous of it.

  
I asked myself
if I was wrong to covet it...

  
and thought about it long
and, I hope, truthfully...

  
and saw in myself
several things...

  
in, I think,
no particular order...

  
and I would like
to share them with you.

  
That I would pursue it...

  
that I desired it...

  
that I was not pure of longing
for security...

  
and that perhaps
was not reprehensible in me.

  
That I had duties
beyond the school...

  
and that my duty to my home,
for instance...

  
was, or should be
if it were not...

  
of an equal weight.

  
That tenure and security
and, yes, and comfort...

  
were not of themselves
to be scorned...

  
and were even worthy
of honorable pursuit.

  
And that it was given me...

  
here in this place
which I enjoy...

  
and in which I find comfort
to assure myself...

  
of, as far as it rests
in the material...

  
a continuation
of that comfort and joy.

  
In exchange for what?

  
Teaching... which I love.

  
What was the price
of this security?

  
To obtain tenure,
which tenure...

  
the committee is in the process
of granting me...

  
and on the basis of which...

  
I contracted
to purchase a house.

  
Now.

  
As you don't have
your own family at this point...

  
you may not know
what that means...

  
but to me,
it is very important...

  
a home, a good home,
to raise my family.

  
Now, the tenure committee
will meet.

  
This is the process...

  
and a good process,
under which...

  
the school has functioned
for quite a long time.

  
They will meet
and hear your complaint...

  
which you have
the right to make...

  
and they will dismiss it.

  
They will dismiss
your complaint...

  
and in
the intervening period...

  
I will lose my house.

  
I will not be able
to close on my house.

  
I will lose my deposit.

  
And the home I picked out
for my wife and son...

  
will go by the boards.

  
I see that I have angered you.

  
I understand
your anger with teachers.

  
I was angry with mine.

  
I felt hurt
and humiliated by them...

  
which is one of the reasons
I went into education.

  
What do you want of me?

  
I was hurt when
I received the report...

  
of the tenure committee.

  
I was shocked and I was hurt.

  
Now...

  
I don't mean to subject you
to my weak sensibilities.

  
All right.
Finally, I did not understand.

  
And then I thought...

  
is it not always
at those points...

  
at which we reckon
ourselves unassailable...

  
that we are most vulnerable?

  
Yes. All right.

  
You find me pedantic.
Yes, I am.

  
By nature, by birth,
by profession.

  
I don't know. I'm always
looking for a paradigm.

  
I don't know
what a paradigm is.

  
It's a model.

  
Then why can't you use
that word?

  
If it is important to you, yes.

  
I was looking for a model.

  
To continue,
I feel that one point...

  
One second!

  
Upon which I am unassailable...

  
is my unflinching concern
for my students' dignity.

  
I have asked you here
in a spirit of investigation...

  
to ask you... to ask...

  
what have I done to you?

  
And, I suppose,
how can I make amends?

  
Can we not settle this now?

  
It's pointless, really.
And I want to know...

  
What you can do
to force me to retract.

  
That is not what I meant at all.

  
To bribe me,
to convince me to retract.

  
That is not what I meant at all.

  
I think you know that it is not.

  
That is not what I know.
I wish I...

  
You wish what?

  
No. You said
what amends you can make...

  
to force me to retract.

  
That is not what I said.

  
I have my notes.

  
Look. Look...

  
The stoics say...

  
The stoics?

  
The stoical philosophers say...

  
if you remove the phrase,
"I have been injured"...

  
you have removed the injury.

  
Now, think.
I know you're upset.

  
Just tell me, literally...

  
what wrong have I done you?

  
Whatever you have done to me...

  
to the extent
that you've done it to me...

  
rather than
to me as a student...

  
and so to the student body...

  
is contained in my report
to the tenure committee.

  
Well, all right.

  
Let's see.

  
Let's investigate this.

  
I find that I am sexist...

  
that I am elitist.

  
I'm not sure
I know what that means...

  
other than it's
a derogatory word meaning bad.

  
That I insist on wasting time...

  
in nonprescribed
and self-aggrandizing...

  
and theatrical diversions
from the prescribed text.

  
That these have taken both
sexist and pornographic forms.

  
Here we find listed instances.

  
Closeted with a student...

  
told a rambling,
sexually-explicit story...

  
in which the frequency
and attitudes of fornication...

  
of the poor and rich
are the central point.

  
"Moved to embrace said student."

  
That I used the phrase
"the white man's burden."

  
That I told you
how I'd asked you to my room...

  
because I "like you."

  
"He said he liked me,
that he liked being with me.

  
"He'd let me write
my examination paper over...

  
"if I could come back oftener
to see him in his office."

  
It's ludicrous.
Don't you know that?

  
It's not necessary.

  
It's going to humiliate you
and to cost me my house.

  
It's ludicrous?

  
"He told me he had problems
with his wife...

  
"and that he wanted
to take off...

  
"the artificial stricture
of teacher and student.

  
"He put his arms around..."

  
Do you deny it?

  
Can you deny it?
Don't you see?

  
You don't see, do you?

  
I don't see.

  
You think that you can deny
that these things happened...

  
or if they did...

  
that they meant
what you said they meant.

  
Don't you see?
You dragged me in here...

  
You drag us to listen to you
go on about this or that...

  
or we don't express
ourselves very well.

  
We don't say what we mean,
don't we?

  
We do say what we mean...

  
and you say
"I don't understand you" and...

  
Consult the report?
You see?

  
Do you see what I'm saying?

  
Can't you tell me
in your own words?

  
Those are my own words.

  
"He told me that if
I would stay alone with him...

  
"in his office, he would
change my grade to an "A."

  
What have I done to you?

  
Oh, my God!
Are you so hurt?

  
What I feel is irrelevant.

  
Do you know I tried to help you?

  
What I know I have reported.

  
I would like to help you now,
before this escalates.

  
I don't need your help.

  
I don't need anything
that you have.

  
- I feel...
- I don't care what you feel.

  
You can't do that anymore.
You do not have the power.

  
Did you misuse it?
Someone did.

  
Are you part of that group?

  
Yes, you are.
You've done these things.

  
And to say, "Excuse me."

  
And to say, "Let me help
you with your problem..."

  
Yes, I understand.

  
You're hurt. You're angry.

  
I think your anger
is betraying you...

  
down a path
which helps no one.

  
I don't care what you think.

  
You don't?
But you talk of rights.

  
Don't you see?
I have rights, too.

  
I have a house,
part of the real world...

  
and the tenure committee.
Good men and true.

  
- Professor...
- Please.

  
Also part of that world.
You understand?

  
This is my life.
I'm not a boogie man.

  
I don't stand for something...

  
Professor,
I came here as a favor...

  
at your personal request.

  
Perhaps I should not
have done so...

  
but I did on my behalf
and on behalf of my group.

  
And you speak of
the tenure committee...

  
one of whose members
is a woman...

  
and though you might
call it good fun...

  
or an historical phrase
or an oversight...

  
to refer to the committee
as good men and true...

  
it is a demeaning remark.

  
It is a sexist remark...

  
and to overlook it is
to countenance continuation...

  
of that method of thought.

  
- It's a remark...
- Oh, come on!

  
Come on! Sufficient
to deprive a family...

  
Sufficient?

  
Sufficient, yes.
It is a fact.

  
And that story
which I quote...

  
is vile and classist
and manipulative...

  
and pornographic...

  
It's pornographic?

  
What gives you the right
to speak to a woman...

  
Yes, I'm sorry.

  
I'm sorry
you feel yourself empowered.

  
You say so yourself...

  
to strut, to posture,
to perform.

  
You say that higher education
is a joke...

  
and treat it as such.

  
You treat it as such
and confess to a taste...

  
to play the patriarch
in your class...

  
to grant this, to deny that...

  
to embrace your students.

  
How can you assert?
How can you stand there?

  
How can you deny it?
You did it to me here.

  
You did. You confess.

  
You love the power...

  
to deviate, to invent,
to transgress...

  
to transgress whatever norms
have been established for us.

  
And you think it's charming
to question in yourself...

  
this taste to mock and destroy.

  
But to the aspirations
of your students...

  
of hard-working students
who come here...

  
who slave to come here...

  
You have no idea what it cost me
to come to this school.

  
You mock us.

  
You call education hazing...

  
and from your so-protected,
so-elitist seat...

  
you hold our confusion
as a joke...

  
and our hopes and efforts
with it.

  
Then you sit there and say,
"What have I done?"

  
And ask me to understand
that you have aspirations, too.

  
But I tell you...

  
I tell you that you are vile...

  
and that you are exploitative...

  
and if you possess one ounce
of that inner honesty...

  
you describe in your book...

  
you can look in yourself and
see those things that I see...

  
and you can find revulsion
equal to my own. Good day.

  
Wait a second, will you?
Just one moment.

  
Nice day today.

  
What?

  
You said good day.

  
I think that it is
a nice day today.

  
- Is it?
- Yes, I think it is.

  
Why is that important?

  
Because...

  
it's the essence
of all human communication.

  
I say something conventional,
you respond...

  
and the information we exchange
is not about the weather...

  
but that we agree to converse.

  
In effect, we agree
that we are both human.

  
I am not an exploiter...

  
and you are not a deranged,
what, revolutionary?

  
That we may have positions...

  
and that we may have desires
which are in conflict...

  
but that we're just human...

  
that means sometimes
we're imperfect.

  
Often, we're in conflict.

  
Much of what we do...
you're right...

  
in the name of principles
is self-serving.

  
Much of what we do
is conventional.

  
You're right.

  
You said you came into the class
to learn about education.

  
I don't know that
I can teach you about education.

  
But I know I can tell you
what I think about education...

  
and then you decide.

  
And you don't have
to fight with me.

  
I'm not the subject.

  
And where I am wrong...

  
perhaps it's not your job
to fix me.

  
I know I don't want to fix you.

  
I would like to tell you
what I think...

  
because that is my job...

  
conventional though it is,
and flawed as I may be.

  
And then...

  
if you can show me
some better form...

  
then we can proceed from there.

  
But just like,
"Nice day, isn't it?"...

  
I don't think we can proceed...

  
until we accept
that each of us is human...

  
and we can
still have difficulties.

  
We will have them.
That's all right, too.

  
- Now...
- Wait.

  
Yes, I want to hear it.

  
The...

  
Yes, tell me frankly.

  
My position...

  
I want to hear it
in your own words...

  
what you want, what you feel...

  
My group.

  
Your group?

  
The people
I've been talking to, they...

  
There's no shame in that.

  
Everybody needs advisors.

  
Everybody needs
to expose themselves...

  
to various points of view.

  
It's not wrong.
It's essential.

  
Good.

  
Good. Now.

  
You and I...

  
You and I.

  
Hello?

  
No. I know they do.

  
I know she does.
Tell her that I...

  
Can I call you back?

  
No. Then tell her
I think it's going to be fine.

  
Tell her just hold on, and I...

  
Can I get back to you?

  
Well, no, no, no.

  
We're taking the house.
No, no, no.

  
It's not a question
of refunding the deposit.

  
Yes, I know the committee
is about to meet.

  
I'm dealing with the complaint.

  
Yes, right now.
Which is why I...

  
Call Jerry.
And I can't talk now.

  
Fine. Good-bye.

  
I'm sorry
that we were interrupted.

  
- One moment.
- I was saying...

  
You said that we should agree
to talk about my complaint.

  
- That's correct.
- But we are talking about it.

  
That's correct, too.
This is the gist of education...

  
We're talking about it
at the tenure committee hearing.

  
Yes, but I'm saying...

  
We can talk about it
now as easily...

  
No. I think we should
stick to the process...

  
Wait a minute.

  
The conventional process,
as you said.

  
And you're right.
I'm sorry if I was...

  
If I was discourteous to you.
You're right.

  
- Wait a moment.
- I really should go.

  
Granted, I have an interest
in the status quo.

  
All right. Everybody does.

  
But what I'm saying
is that the committee...

  
Professor, you're right.
Just don't impinge on me.

  
- We'll take our differences...
- Look, you're going...

  
I shouldn't have come here.
They told me...

  
Wait one moment. No, no!

  
There are norms here.
And there's no reason...

  
I'm trying to save you...

  
You're trying to save me?
Do me the courtesy...

  
I am doing you the courtesy.
I'm talking straight to you.

  
We can settle this now.

  
- I want you to sit down.
- You must excuse me.

  
No, just sit down!

  
It seems each of us...
Wait one moment.

  
- Let me go!
- Just do me the courtesy!

  
Let me go!
Get your hands off me!

  
What are you getting
so excited about?

  
Will somebody help me please?

  
Will you please?

  
Would somebody help me,
please!

  
Can I speak to you
for a moment, please?

  
OK.

  
Excuse me.

  
Can you make
a large-sized poster?

  
I... I...

  
I have asked you here...

  
I have asked you here
against my...

  
I was most surprised
you asked me here.

  
Against my better judgment.

  
- I was most surprised.
- Yes, I'm sure.

  
If you would like me to leave,
I'll go right now.

  
Let us begin correctly.
May we? I feel...

  
That is what I wish to do.
That's why I came here...

  
but now perhaps
you'd like me to leave.

  
I don't want you to leave!
I asked you to come.

  
I didn't have to come here.

  
No.

  
Thank you.

  
All right.

  
Although I feel it profits...

  
that it would
profit you something...

  
- What I...
- lf you would hear me out!

  
I came here to.

  
The court officers
told me not to come.

  
- The court officers?
- I'm shocked that you asked.

  
But I did not come here
to hear what it profits me.

  
- The court officers?
- Perhaps I should leave.

  
- I shouldn't have...
- Wait! Wait a moment!

  
Will you please?

  
What is it you want?

  
I would like you to stay.

  
You want me to stay.

  
- Yes.
- You do.

  
I would like you to hear me out.
If you would.

  
Would you? Please.

  
If you would do that,
I would be in your debt.

  
Thank you.

  
What is it
you wish to tell me?

  
I cannot...

  
I cannot help but feel
you are owed an apology.

  
I have read and reread
these accusations...

  
What accusations?

  
The tenure commit...
What other accusations?

  
The tenure committee?
Those are not accusations.

  
They have been proved.
They are facts.

  
Those are not accusations.

  
- Those?
- The committee has...

  
Those are not accusations.
The tenure committee has...

  
All right, all right!

  
Hello. Yes.

  
No, I'm here. Tell Mis...

  
No, I have no time to...

  
I'm sure he has,
but I'm fine.

  
No, I have no time...

  
Tell Mis... Tell Mister...

  
Tell Jerry that I'm fine
and I'll call him right away.

  
My wife. Yes.

  
I'm sure she has. Yes.

  
Thank you. Yes.

  
I'll call her, too.

  
I cannot talk to you now.

  
All right.
It was good of you to come.

  
Thank you.

  
I have studied...

  
I have spent some time
studying the indictment.

  
You'll have to explain
that word to me.

  
- An indictment?
- Yes.

  
Is a bill of particulars...

  
- All right. Yes.
- In which is alleged...

  
No. I cannot allow that.

  
Nothing is alleged.
Everything is proved.

  
- Please, wait a second.
- I cannot allow that.

  
If I may? From whatever
you feel is established...

  
The issue here
is not what I feel.

  
It is not my feelings...

  
but the feelings of women
and men, your superiors...

  
who have been polled...

  
and have ruled
that you are negligent...

  
that you are guilty and
are not to be given tenure...

  
that you are to be disciplined.

  
That is what
the tenure committee has said.

  
That is what my lawyer said,
for what you did in class...

  
for what you did in that office.

  
They're going to discharge me.

  
As full well they should!

  
You don't understand. Fine.

  
What has led you to this point?

  
Not your sex, not your race,
not your class.

  
Your own actions.
And you're angry.

  
You ask me here.
What do you want?

  
You want to charm me.
You want to convince me.

  
You want me to recant.
I will not recant.

  
Why should I?
What I say is right.

  
You were going to tell me that
you have a wife and child...

  
that you have a career...

  
and that you've worked
for 20 years for this.

  
Do you know
what you've worked for?

  
Power! For power.
Do you understand?

  
And you sit there and tell me
stories about your house...

  
and all about private schools
and privilege...

  
and how you are entitled
to buy, to spend...

  
to mock, to summon.
All your stories.

  
All your silly, weak guilt.

  
It's all about privilege...

  
and you won't know it.
Don't you see?

  
You've worked twenty years
for the right to insult me.

  
And you feel entitled
to be paid for it.

  
Your home, your wife...

  
your sweet deposit
on your house.

  
Don't you have feelings?

  
That's my point, you see...

  
"Don't you have feelings?"

  
Your final argument...

  
I don't take your side,
you question if I'm human.

  
Don't you have feelings?

  
I have a responsibility...

  
- To?
- This institution.

  
To the students, to my group.

  
- Your group?
- Yes.

  
Because I speak, not for myself,
but for the group.

  
For those who suffer
what I suffer...

  
on behalf of whom,
even if I were inclined to...

  
Forgive? Forget?
Overlook your...

  
- My behavior?
- It would be wrong.

  
Even if you were inclined
to forgive me?

  
- It would be wrong.
- And what would transpire?

  
- Transpire?
- Yes.

  
- Happen?
- Yes.

  
Then say it,
for Christ's sake!

  
Who the hell
do you think that you are?

  
You want a post...

  
you want unlimited power
to do and say what you want...

  
as it pleases you...
testing, questioning...

  
- Flirting...
- I never...

  
Excuse me one moment, will you?

  
"The 12th.
Have a good day, dear."

  
"The 15th.
Now, don't you look fetching."

  
"April 17th. If you girls
would come over here..."

  
I saw you.

  
I saw you, Professor,
for the entire semester...

  
sit there, stand there...

  
and exploit
your paternal prerogative.

  
And what is that but rape,
I swear to God?

  
You asked me in here
to explain something to me...

  
that I did not understand...

  
but I came here to explain
something to you.

  
You are not God.

  
You ask me why I came?

  
I came here to instruct you.

  
And your book.

  
You want to talk about
your book?

  
You think you're going
to show me some light?

  
You maverick,
outside of tradition.

  
No, no...

  
of that fine tradition
of inquiry...

  
of polite skepticism.

  
And you say you believe in
free intellectual discourse?

  
You believe in nothing.

  
You believe in nothing at all.

  
I believe in freedom of thought.

  
Isn't that fine? Do you?

  
Yes, I do.

  
Then why do you question
for one moment...

  
the committee's decision
refusing your tenure?

  
Why do you question
your suspension?

  
You believe in what
you call freedom of thought...

  
then fine.

  
You believe in freedom
of thought and a home...

  
and prerogatives
for your kid and tenure.

  
And I'm going to tell you...

  
that you believe not
in freedom of thought...

  
but in an elitist...

  
in a protected hierarchy
which rewards you.

  
And for whom you are the clown.

  
You mock and exploit the system
which pays your rent.

  
You're wrong.

  
I'm not wrong.

  
You're wrong.

  
You think
that I'm full of hatred.

  
I know what you think I am.

  
Do you?

  
Of course I do.

  
You think I'm a frightened,
repressed, confused...

  
abandoned young thing of
some doubtful sexuality...

  
who wants power and revenge,
don't you?

  
Yes, I do.

  
Isn't that better?

  
And I feel that
that is the first moment...

  
which you've treated me
with respect.

  
For you told me the truth.

  
I did not come here,
as you are assured, to gloat.

  
Why would I want to gloat?

  
I've profited nothing from,
as you say, your misfortune.

  
I came here...

  
as you did me the honor
to ask me here.

  
I came here
to tell you something...

  
If I may...

  
that I think...

  
that I think you've been wrong.

  
That I think
you've been terribly wrong.

  
Do you hate me now?

  
- Yes.
- Listen to me, Professor.

  
It is the power
that you hate so deeply...

  
that any atmosphere of
free discussion is impossible.

  
It's not unlikely.
It's impossible, isn't it?

  
- Isn't it?
- Yes, I suppose.

  
Now the thing
which you find so cruel...

  
is the self-same process
of selection...

  
that I and my group go through
every day of our lives...

  
in admittance to school...

  
in our tests,
in our class rankings.

  
You write that education
is just hazing.

  
But we work
to get to this school...

  
and some of us
overcame prejudices...

  
economic, sexual...
you cannot begin to imagine...

  
and endured humiliations that
I pray you and those you love...

  
never will encounter
to gain admittance here...

  
to pursue that same dream
of security you pursue...

  
we, who are at any moment...

  
in danger of
being deprived of it.

  
By?

  
By the administration,
by the teachers, by you.

  
By one low grade that keeps us
out of graduate school.

  
By one capricious or
inventive answer on our parts...

  
which perhaps
you don't find amusing.

  
I don't understand!

  
My charges are not trivial.

  
You see that in the haste
with which they were accepted.

  
A joke you have told
with a sexist tinge.

  
The language you use.

  
A verbal or physical caress.
Yes, I know.

  
You say it's meaningless.
I understand.

  
I differ from you.

  
To lay a hand
on someone's shoulder...

  
It was devoid
of sexual content...

  
I say it was not!

  
Don't you begin to see,
to understand...

  
that it is not for you to say.

  
I take your point.

  
I see there is much good
in what you refer to.

  
Do you think so?

  
But, not to say that I cannot
change in those things...

  
where I am deficient, but...

  
Do you hold yourself harmless...

  
from the charge of
sexual exploitativeness?

  
I have to tell you...

  
as I said, I think
I am not too old to learn.

  
And I can learn.

  
Do you hold yourself innocent?

  
Wait, wait, wait!
Let's go back...

  
No! You fool!

  
Who do you think I am,
to be taken in by a smile?

  
You little yapping fool.
You think I want revenge?

  
I don't want revenge.
I want understanding.

  
- Do you?
- I do.

  
What's the use? It's over.

  
Is it? What is?

  
My job.

  
Your job.

  
That's what
you want to talk about.

  
All right.
What if it were possible...

  
my group withdraws
its complaint?

  
- What?
- That's right.

  
Why?

  
Let's say,
as an act of friendship.

  
- An act of friendship?
- Yes.

  
In exchange for what?

  
Yes, but I don't think
an exchange...

  
for what do we derive from it?

  
- Derive?
- Yes.

  
- Nothing.
- That's right.

  
We derive nothing.
Do you see that?

  
- Yes.
- That's a little word.

  
"Yes-I-see-that,"
but you will.

  
You might speak
to the committee?

  
To the committee?

  
Yes.

  
Of course that's on your mind,
we might.

  
If what?

  
Given what?
That is more friendly.

  
Given what?

  
And, believe me,
I understand your rage.

  
It's not that
I don't feel it...

  
but I do not see
that it is deserved...

  
so I do not resent it.

  
All right. I have a list.

  
A list.

  
Here is a list of books
which we find questionable.

  
What?

  
- Is this so bizarre?
- I can't believe...

  
It's not necessary
you believe it.

  
- Academic freedom...
- Someone chooses the books.

  
If you can choose them,
others can.

  
- What are you, God?
- No. The dangerous...

  
You have an agenda.
We have an agenda.

  
I'm not interested
in your feelings...

  
or your motivation,
but your actions.

  
If you would like me to speak
to the tenure committee...

  
here is my list.

  
You are a free person.
You decide.

  
I think you'll find...

  
I'm capable of reading it,
thank you.

  
We have a number of texts
we need reviewed.

  
I see that.

  
We're amenable
to anything that...

  
- Let me look over...
- I think you should...

  
I'm reading your demands,
all right?

  
You want to ban my book.

  
- We do not.
- It says here...

  
We want it
removed from inclusion...

  
as a representative example
of the university.

  
Get out of here.

  
If you put aside
the issue of personality...

  
Get the fuck out of my office!

  
I would reconsider.

  
- You think that you can...
- We can, and we will.

  
Do you want our support?
That is the only question.

  
- To ban my book?
- That is correct.

  
- This is a university.
- And we have a statement.

  
We have a statement.

  
No! It's out of the question!

  
I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

  
I don't know
what was I thinking of.

  
I'll tell you something.

  
I'm a teacher.

  
It's my name on the door...

  
and I teach the class.
That's what I do.

  
I have a book
with my name on it...

  
and my son will see
that book someday.

  
And I have a respons...

  
No. I'm sorry.
I have a responsibility...

  
to myself, to my son,
to my profession.

  
I haven't been home
for two days.

  
You know that?
Thinking this out.

  
You haven't?

  
If it's of interest you,
I've been in a hotel thinking.

  
You haven't been home.

  
Thinking, you see?

  
And I owe you a debt.
I see that now.

  
You're dangerous.

  
You're wrong and it is my job
to say no to you.

  
And that is my job.
That's right.

  
You're absolutely right.

  
You want to ban my book?

  
You can go to hell.

  
And they can do to me
whatever they want.

  
You haven't been home
in two days.

  
I think I told you that.

  
You better get that phone.

  
I think that
you should pick up the phone.

  
Yes.

  
Yes.

  
Well, I had to be...
Did you worry about me?

  
No, I'm fine.
I'm fine, Jerry.

  
I got a little bit mixed up...

  
but I'm sitting here
and I got it figured out.

  
I'm fine.
Don't worry about me.

  
I got a little bit
turned around...

  
but I'm sitting here...

  
and I'm not sure
it's not a blessing.

  
Cost me my job, fine.

  
Then the job
was not worth having.

  
Tell Grace I'm coming home.
Everything's fine.

  
What? What do you mean?

  
Jerry...

  
Jerry, they... Who? Who?

  
What can they do?

  
They can't do that.

  
But how?

  
She's... She's here with me.

  
Jerry...

  
Jerry, I don't underst...

  
What does this mean?

  
I thought you knew.

  
What? What does it mean?

  
You tried to rape me.

  
According to the law.

  
What?

  
You tried to rape me.

  
I was leaving this office.
You pressed yourself into me.

  
You pressed your body into me.

  
My group has told your lawyer
we may pursue criminal charges.

  
Under the statute,
I'm told, it was battery.

  
No.

  
Yes. And attempted rape.
That's right.

  
Get out.

  
Of course, I thought you knew.

  
I have to talk to my lawyer.

  
Yes, perhaps you should.

  
Hello. I...

  
Hello. I...

  
Yes, he just called.

  
I can't talk now, baby.

  
- Get out.
- Your wife?

  
Who it is
is no concern of yours.

  
Get out.

  
I can't talk now, baby.

  
No, no, no.
It's going to be fine.

  
Get out of here!

  
- I'm going.
- Good.

  
And don't call your wife "baby."

  
What?

  
Don't call your wife "baby."
You heard what I said.

  
You find that amusing?

  
No!

  
You vicious little bitch!

  
Come here. Come here.

  
Get...

  
- Come here!
- No!

  
You think that you can...

  
destroy my life
after how I've treated you!

  
Are you kidding me?

  
Yes? Yes?

  
Come here!

  
Rape you?

  
Rape you?
Are you kidding me?

  
I wouldn't touch you
with a 10-foot...

  
- You little cunt!
- Don't! Don't!

  
Oh, my God.

  
Oh, my God.

  
Yes, that's right.