The Man Who Couldn't Stay Dead

AUGUST 17TH 1992 TIME; 20.00 INT. NIGHT. MILAN. ITALY. OFFICE OF STAR DIAMOND DEALERS.

We are inside a small, one room, functional office above the Cafe Reale, just off a bustling street in Milan, Italy. The windows are open on a hot, sultry summer evening. A large wooden desk sits in one corner, covered in books and literature entirely about gemstones. Likewise, posters on the walls are all related to jewellery and gemstones. A kettle and a small sink occupy another corner. A large, ancient ceiling fan hangs broken, lopsided and motionless. Sounds of the evening street below, drift into the room. Traffic, car horns, people walking, talking. We see through the window to the street below. People in shirt sleeves and summer frocks coming and going, mopping sweating brows and necks with handkerchiefs. People sitting outside bars and cafes relaxing. The sound of tinkling glasses and crockery, chatting and laughter. All innocently unaware of the evil taking place above their heads at this very moment. Back in the office, a lavender candle burns silently on a shelf to freshen the sweaty summer air. A radio is playing:- Dean Martin singing ‘That’s Amore.’ A tap drips annoyingly but ignored into the sink. And a scene from hell is taking place.

ANTONIO PETRINI, the owner of Star Diamond Dealers, is lying on his back on the floor, face bloodied and arms flailing to protect himself from the vicious blows raining down on him from his business partner, PAOLO SOLQUINE. In Paolo’s hand is a heavy, ornate hand mirror, repeatedly crashing into the skull of the smaller Antonio. Harder and harder the weapon crashes into the victim’s skull. His screams for mercy go unheeded, lost in the red mist of undiluted anger and breathless curses of his assailant. Down and down come the blows.

ANTONIO PETRINI

Stop it. Stop. Paolo. What are you doing ? Please. Stop.

The violent blows continue.

PAOLO SOLQUINE

Where is it ? Tell me. Where is it ? What have you done with it ?

ANTONIO PETRINI

Alright. Stop. I’ll tell you. Stop.

But before Antonio can continue and save himself, the mirror cracks. A triangular shard of glass protrudes from the frame of the mirror just as the umpteenth blow lands. The glass shard penetrates deep into Antonio’s forehead and stays there, protruding above his left eye. Antonio’s body stiffens, his eyes stare wide and motionless at the ceiling. A final gasp of air exits his body and his eyes slowly close for the final time. In this life. Paolo slumps into a chair, staring at his victim. His arms hang lifeless and the bloody weapon drops to the floor. A clock strikes eight o clock. The final strains of Dean Martin singing ‘That’s Amore’ fade away, leaving just Paulo’s heavy breathing and the dripping tap to disturb the murderous stillness. There he sits, staring blankly, for an indeterminate length of time, as the camera slowly and silently dissolves through the scene.

DISSOLVES:

(A) Paulo slumped motionless in the chair.

(B) The clock showing eight o clock.

(C) Antonio dead on the floor.

(D) Broken, bloody hand mirror beside the chair.

(E) Blood soaked floor and walls.

(F) Radio light still on - but we hear no music.

(G) Lavender candle still burning.

(H) Crooked ceiling fan.

(I) The dripping tap.

(J) Out through the window to see the world still going on just as before.

END DISSOLVES.

AUGUST 17TH 1992 TIME: 22.30 INT. NIGHT. LONDON, ENGLAND. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD.

Several hours later. A hospital maternity ward in London, England. Paul and Sophie Walsh, a young English husband and wife are about to become parents. The woman is in labour, screaming in pain and digging her nails into her husband’s hand. The husband offers her comfort, in between his own wincing from her nails in his hand. Midwives and doctors are issuing instructions.

DOCTOR.

Push. That’s good. Keep going. We’re almost there.

MIDWIFE.

Deep breaths. Remember all that practise. Nice and deep.

The midwife nudges the expectant father on the arm.

MIDWIFE. (CONT’D)

You too. Come on. Nice and deep.

Paul Walsh obeys and breathes along with his wife. Eventually, the baby arrives and gasps of relief are followed by weak happy laughter as the new born baby boy is placed on his mothers sweaty, heaving chest. The proud father kisses his wife on the forehead and shakes some life back into his battered hand.

PAUL WALSH. (NEW FATHER.)

Well done darling. That wasn’t so bad was it ?

SOPHIE WALSH. (NEW MOTHER) (Joking)

If you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you.

PAUL WALSH.

Oh, right. Just the one it is then.

The new parents admire their new son. He is an olive skinned, dark haired, Mediterranean looking baby. Both parents are typically English looking, fair of skin and hair. The baby looks nothing like them. They become a little concerned at some unexplained markings on the child. There is a vivid scar above his left eye and a star shape on his left shoulder. They call over the midwife who gives the child a cursory look over.

MIDWIFE

Don’t worry my darlings. They’re just normal marks after a birth. They’ll fade soon enough.

TIME: 23.00 INT. NIGHT. OFFICE OF STAR DIAMOND DEALERS. MILAN.

PAOLO SOLQUINE is still slumped in the chair, feeling nothing. Just an empty numbness. We hear a police car siren approach from the distance. The noise rouses Paolo from his stunned torpor. He sits up in the chair and quickly looks around the office as though seeking a hiding place. He relaxes when the siren passes and disappears into the distance. But now his brain starts to function again. He looks around the room, at Antonio’s body on the floor, at first feeling shock and horror at what he’s done. eventually, his overriding sensation is satisfaction. A job done. An obstacle removed. Night has fallen and there is a beautiful full moon shining through the window. Something catches Paulo’s eye, glinting in the moonlight. On Antonio’s lifeless body and all around the floor are little star bursts of light. Diamonds. Dozens of tiny glistening diamonds that were in Antonio’s hand when Paulo attacked him. Paulo gets out of the chair and falls to his knees, greedily picking up as many as he can find. Many are red from Antonio’s blood. Paulo barely notices. More importantly, he also doesn’t notice Antonio’s cold right fist, clenched tight. He finishes collecting the spilled diamonds, stuffing them greedily into his pockets. He throws the bloody, broken, murder weapon onto the corpse before rolling up Antonio’s body in the blood stained carpet.

TIME: 23.30 INT. NIGHT. LONDON, ENGLAND. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD.

The new mother is now sitting up in bed, slightly recovered and rested from giving birth. She is holding her new baby. The father is sitting beside the bed looking on proudly. The room lights are dimmed, with just a wall light beside the bed giving light.

SOPHIE WALSH.

He does look sort of Mediterranean doesn’t he. I like it. Perhaps we should call him something suitable to match.

PAUL WALSH

Oh oh. Like what ?

SOPHIE WALSH (Joking.)

Atticus.

Paul Walsh shakes his head negatively.

PAUL WALSH

His friends will call him Lofty.

SOPHIE WALSH

Alright. Gino.

PAUL WALSH

Pizza !

SOPHIE WALSH

Ceaser ?

PAUL WALSH

Salad !

SOPHIE WALSH

Luigi.

PAUL WALSH

Mafia

Sophie give him a: ‘don’t be silly’ look.

SOPHIE WALSH

Ok. Your turn then.

PAUL WALSH

Geoffrey.

SOPHIE WALSH (Puzzled.)

Geoffrey ?

PAUL WALSH

Yes. That’s the landlord’s name. He looks a bit Mediterranean too. He nods teasingly at his new son.

SOPHIE WALSH (Chiding)

Our rent has been paid in the normal way Mr. We’re not calling him after the landlord. How about Antonio ?

At the sound of this name, the baby let’s out a squeal.

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

See. He likes that.

PAUL WALSH

Well not Antonio. He’d have to be a good fighter in Hackney with that name. How about Anthony ? That’s sort of English Italian.

SOPHIE WALSH

Anthony ? Yes. I like that.

The name is decided and the new mother turns her attention to the baby

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

Hello Anthony. How’s my little boy ?

Sophie takes his right hand in hers and realises that his fist is tightly clenched.

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

Oh dear. What have you got in there then ?

She eases open his fingers to place her finger in his hand. In doing so, she notices an odd mark on the palm of his hand. A red oval surrounded by a circle of five white dots. She dismisses it as a result of the tightly clenched fist.

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

Oh dear Anthony. Look at your hand. You are a tense little boy aren’t you. Look what you’ve done.

She kisses the mark. Paul checks out the mark too.

PAUL WALSH

Don’t worry. It’ll fade soon enough.

Sophie places her finger in the baby’s palm and is surprised by how strongly he grips it.

SOPHIE WALSH

He has got a strong grip. It’s like he’s holding on for dear life.

A beautiful full moon appears from behind a cloud and a shaft of light crosses the face of the baby. Anthony’s startled eyes open wide and dart around the room before settling on the static ceiling fan above the bed. He let’s out a loud cry.

TIME: 00.30 EXT. NIGHT. ALLEY OUTSIDE STAR DIAMOND DEALER’S OFFICE.

Paulo Solquine opens the door onto a deserted side alley. After making sure there is no one around, he drags a tied, heavy roll of carpet to the open boot of his car. He struggles to lift the damning object into the boot but desperation and adrenalin help. He throws in a large spade before slamming the boot shut and driving off with a squeal of burning rubber.

TIME: 00.55 EXT. NIGHT. CLEARING IN A WOOD. MILAN. ITALY.

It is almost 1am when Paolo reaches a clearing in a deserted wood. He has been here many times before. He knows this place as Legno di amore. (Lover’s Wood.) This place has seen many nights of drunken loving from Paolo, parked beneath a huge olive tree draped with long strands of hanging Spanish Moss, beside a small lake. He turns off the car engine and sits for a second in the silence, looking vacantly out of the windscreen.

FLASHBACK:

We see Paolo in this same location, in this same car, making love to a young woman.

END FLASHBACK:

Paolo ends his reverie and gets out of the car.

PAOLO SOLQUINE

Not tonight old friend. Maybe another time.

Paulo goes to the rear of the car and looks around furtively before opening the boot and removing the spade. He throws his coat into the ground and starts digging frantically. Half an hour later, he steps out of a shallow grave. He is filthy and exhausted but he has to finish in cold blood, what he started in a fit of heated fury. He leans into the car boot and heaves the dead weight carpet and its contents onto his shoulder. With faltering steps he struggles back to the fresh grave and unceremoniously and brutally drops his ex partner into the hole in the ground.

TIME: 01.30 INT. NIGHT. LONDON, ENGLAND. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD.

The new born baby, sleeping fitfully beside his mother, suddenly wakes with a start and a loud scream. His resting mother jumps with fright. The father is fast asleep in an armchair beside the bed. He doesn’t stir. Sophie pacifies the baby. She is shocked by the look of fear on his innocent face. She picks him up and calms him, gently kissing him on his forehead.

SOPHIE WALSH

There there Anthony. Don’t fret so. Everything is alright now. Daddy’s here.

She looks over to her husband for assistance. He is still fast asleep. She gives a ‘wifely’ tut.

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

Typical.

Her attention returns to the baby.

SOPHIE WALSH (CONT’D)

Shush now Anthony. Oh dear, where did you get that scar ?

She kisses the scar above the baby’s left eye and strokes it tenderly.

TIME: 01.35 EXT. NIGHT. CLEARING IN A WOOD. MILAN. FULL MOON.

A dirty, sweating, PAOLO SOLQUINE, in his shirtsleeves, is desperately shovelling dirt onto the grave of Antonio Petrini. He finishes the job by trampling down the small mound with his feet. He gives his handy work a quick look in the moonlight before throwing the shovel into the boot of his car and slamming it shut. He grabs his coat from the ground, jumps into the car and drives off at speed.

TIME: 01.45. INT. NIGHT. LONDON, ENGLAND. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD.

The newborn baby is having a coughing fit, and furiously brushing his face as though trying to remove something. His mother pats his back, and wipes his face with a cloth.

SOPHIE WALSH

Oh dear. You are having a rough start to life aren’t you. Never mind. No one can hurt you now. I’ll look after you.

She looks over to her still sleeping husband as if to emphasise the point, and ‘rolls her eyes’ heavenward.

AUGUST 18TH 1992 INT. DAY. OFFICE OF STAR DIAMOND DEALERS. MILAN

It is the day after the murder of Antonio Petrini. PAOLO SOLQUINE is frantically searching the office for something unknown to us. Draws are turned out onto the desktop. Cupboards are searched. Files are pulled out of a filing cabinet and shaken upside down. The contents of shelves are roughly shoved around and searched.

PAOLO SOLQUINE

Where is it. What have you done with it. I’ll find it. It’s got to be here somewhere.

Paolo sees Antonio’s coat is still hanging on a coat stand. He quickly searches through the pockets. He doesn’t find what he wants but he does find Antonio’s car and house keys.

PAOLO SOLQUINE (CONT’D)

Of course. His car.

He rushes down the stairs and out into the side alley where Antonio’s car is still parked. He urgently unlocks the door, sits in the car and drags everything from the glove compartment. He doesn’t find what he is looking for. He checks under the seats, in the door compartments and even checks behind the sun visors. He curses as he still doesn’t find what he is looking for. He gets out and checks the boot. Still nothing. He slams the boot and doors shut with a curse and goes back into the building.

AUGUST 18TH 1992. INT. NIGHT. HALLWAY OF A SMART APARTMENT BLOCK. MILAN.

Paulo is standing in a communal hallway outside Antonio’s apartment door, trying several keys in the lock. A resident passes by on the way to his own apartment and innocently greets Paolo as he passes.

RESIDENT.

Good evening.

Paolo tries to hide his face from the resident without looking too suspicious.

PAOLO SOLQUINE

Evening.

The resident passes by, unperturbed, goes into his own apartment and closes his door. Eventually, Paolo finds the correct key to Antonio’s door. It opens and Paolo quickly glances around before entering. Once inside, we see him ransack the apartment as he searches desperately for what he wants. He pulls cushions from furniture and empties draws. He empties the contents of kitchen containers. Coffee, sugar and pasta cover the work top. He goes into the bedroom and throws Antonio’s clothes from the wardrobe onto the bed and goes through all the pockets. He checks inside shoes and boxes. He goes into the bathroom and empties the bathroom cabinet. He lifts the lid off the toilet cistern and checks inside. He even rips away the bath panel and looks under the bath. After a thorough search he angrily concedes defeat and goes to leave. He is about to open the door when he notices a picture on the wall. He hasn’t touched it but it is hanging crookedly. He removes the picture and finds something taped to the rear side. It is an envelope containing the key to a bank deposit box. The name and address of a bank are also inside the envelope. He gives a triumphant laugh of victory then leaves.

AUGUST 19TH 1992. INT. DAY. LARGE BANK.

It is the next day. We are in a large bank. An employee is showing Paolo into a private vault containing hundreds of deposit boxes. The employee shows Paolo to the correct box and leaves him in private. Paolo opens the box, removes the container, placing it on a small table. He quickly goes through the contents, taking them out and putting them on the table. He gets more and more annoyed when he doesn’t find what he is looking for. The only contents are legal documents. House deeds. A will. Insurance documents. Paolo impatiently tips the box upside down and frantically looks through the items. He doesn’t find what he is looking for and furiously wipes the contents from the table in frustration. He goes to leave but stops at the door as a thought occurs to him. He goes back to the pile of documents he swept to the floor. He finds Anthony’s will, puts in into his pocket and leaves.

1995 THREE YEARS LATER. LONDON. ENGLAND. MONTAGE:

We see a montage of three scenes as we experience incidents from Anthony’s childhood to show his very troubled young mind.

INT. DAY. LONDON. BEDROOM.

Anthony is 3 years old. He is sitting on the floor of his mother’s bedroom watching her. She is sitting at the dressing table putting on make up. Then she begins brushing her hair. She opens a draw and brings out a hand mirror to view the back of her hair. Anthony sees the mirror and his eyes widen with terror.

FLASHBACK:

We see what Anthony is seeing in his mind. PAOLO SOLQUINE is raining down blows with a hand mirror, ignoring the cries and helpless flailing hands of the victim. We see the mirror crack and a protruding shard of glass approaching.