Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
directed by Darren Aronofsky
PAN OVER bleak scene. Castle stretching into gray cloud, black lake, black
willow trees. Zoom in on NARRATOR, standing blank faced with small case on gray
ground next to him
NARRATOR:
(whispering, blankly past the camera)
Dull dark and soundless day, bleak walls, vacant windows as the after-dream
of the reveller, combinations of very simple natural objects.
Sudden and violent ZOOM IN on RODERICK USHER, standing at the threshold of the house. A young man and nearly skeletal, holding a black umbrella.
USHER:
My boon companion! My boyhood friend!
(urgently, rushing towards NARRATOR)
I shall perish, I must perish in this deplorable folly. Come in!
NARRATOR:
Never again shall I leave you wondering and wandering, friend. After we sell
off this cocaine, we should be golden, pallid, surprisingly beautiful, delicate
Hebrew nose..
NARRATOR reaches for USHER, who backs away. Cue reel of disturbing imagery
including but not limited to: woman falling into pond, ants eating ants, Grandma
Aronofsky's suicide, NARRATOR fucking USHER up the ass. CUT TO NARRATOR and
USHER sitting across the room from each other in silence.
NARRATOR:
(staring, adopting the pallor of Usher)
I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve which rendered
all music intolerable..
USHER:
I shall perish I must perish..
NARRATOR:
In the greenest of our valleys by good angels tenanted once a fair and stately
palace radiant palace reared its head in the monarch thought's dominion it stood
there never seraph spread a pinion over fabric half so fair..
USHER:
I hear her, I hear her..
CUE MADELINE, in white, walking behind scene. Neither man moves. MADELINE
stands in the center of frame, unmoving. Tricky camera trick involving fizzing
and horizontal shift, MADELINE remains center of image without change
NARRATOR:
banners yellow glorious golden this all this was in the olden ramparts plumed
and pallid a winged odour wanderers in that happy valley through two luminous
windows saw spirits moving musically to a lute's realm with pearl and ruby glowing..
USHER:
Dead! She is dead, my life, ramparts plumed and pallid..
CUE disturbing imagery reel #2 featuring roadkilled cats, Nazis, a slow
motion montage of all angels of the Kennedy assassination, USHER fucking MADELINE
up the ass, USHER and NARRATOR throwing body off cliff, placing body in casket,
burning body, pushing casket into stone, burning cats, sealing stones, sitting
in room, chairs reversed. FADE TO correct seating, USHER regards the ceiling,
unmoving. NARRATOR stands with a glass of brandy.
USHER:
Some days bitter grief elapsed.
NARRATOR:
Your ordinary occupations have been neglected or forgotten.
USHER:
You are me.
NARRATOR:
Your agitated mind is labouring with some oppressive secret.
USHER:
(softly)
The beating..
NARRATOR:
Mere inexplicable vagaries of madness..
USHER:
(with a serene kind of terror)
The beating..
NARRATOR:
An evedently restrained hysteria in your entire demeanor..
USHER:
I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THE DOOR!
MUSIC Benny Hill theme CUE disturbing imagery reel #3 featuring three dogs
devouring a cheeseburger, MADELINE cutting off USHER'S head with a double-sided
dildo, dog dressed as Satan, breast implant surgery, motorcycle accidents, Frankenstein,
eggs frying, woman walking into pond, candlemaking seminar, forest fire, riots,
porn stars eating shit, NARRATOR eating shit, dogs firing guns, Full House,
cheerleaders, broken glass, Rambo, slow motion scene of knife being pushed into
hand, kittens, Madonna
