INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE BATHROOM — DAY
Paraiti stops across from the closed bathroom door. Placing her ear close to the door, she strains to overhear what is going on inside. She hears the muffled voices of Maraea and Rebecca. Very carefully, she wiggles the door handle and quietly opens the bathroom door a crack to look inside.
Facing away from the door, Maraea sits on a bench positioned alongside the bathtub.
Rebecca is lying in the steamy bath tub.
Silently Maraea rubs a thick, white substance over the skin of the pregnant woman, covering her nude back with the creamy, white paste that she takes from a bowl and repeatedly applies with her fingers.
Rebecca’s hair is pulled up at the nape of her neck. The servant’s hands carefully apply the balm to every part of Rebecca’s skin, from her neck to her shoulders and to her back. No part remains uncovered. It is an odd procedure, yet one that seems like a ritual known to each woman: bitter medicine, perhaps, but tolerated.
Rebecca seems to wear a strange white mask broken only by the emptiness of her black-ringed eyes, which fight to hold back her tears.
Maraea stands up and goes to sit on the edge of the bath, facing Rebecca.
Maraea rinses her hands in the bathtub water. With a gesture, seemingly all too familiar, she wipes away Rebecca’s tears with the back of her hand.
MARAEA
Every time you cry, I have to start again.
Rebecca’s expression is utterly blank as she recoils from the clearly painful application. She sheds silent tears.
Maraea, firmly but not harshly, continues the process. She covers her lady’s face with the white paste that Rebecca’s thick, silent tears wash away and leave tracks in.
Maraea again dips her fingers into the white paste and once more covers Rebecca’s face.
INT. STAIRCASE — DAY
Paraiti sits halfway down the stairs.
Maraea appears at the top of the stairs, carrying the bowl that held the mixture used to cover Rebecca’s body.
She sees Paraiti sitting on the steps and continues down.
Just as Maraea passes by Paraiti’s side, trying to avoid her, Paraiti tugs at Maraea’s skirt to force Maraea to sit by her side.
Maraea gasps in surprise and resists the pull, but Paraiti tugs her even harder until she sits down.
PARAITI
He aha nga whakahaere o roto i te whare kaukau? He aha tena mea e pania na e koe ki runga i too wahine rangatira?
SUBTITLE:
What is going on in the bathroom? What is that muck that you’re applying to your mistress?
Maraea responds in a quiet voice.
MARAEA
Mr Vickers likes his wife with smooth, white skin.
Paraiti doesn’t believe her. She snatches the bowl from Maraea and holds the stained hand of the servant for a second. Paraiti looks at her, but Maraea pulls her hand away.
Paraiti dips her fingers into the white substance in the bowl, then smells it. Feeling the white paste burn her skin, she instantly wipes her fingers off on her blouse.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE BATHROOM — DAY
The bathroom door opens. Rebecca emerges wrapped in a velvet-like robe. She looks exhausted and somehow defeated.
PARAITI (OFF SCREEN)
Te mutunga atu kaare te wahine a Mr Vickers e urukehu, ka tere hemo ke ia.
SUBTITLE:
At this rate Mr Vickers won’t have a white wife, he’ll have a dead wife.
Rebecca overhears the two women talking on the staircase.
PARAITI (OFF SCREEN)
Kaati te panipani i nga taruweku ra ki runga i a ia!
SUBTITLE:
Stop painting that rubbish on her!
MARAEA
You do what you must do and I do what I must do!
Gathering back some strength, Rebecca tries to recover her demeanour.
INT. STAIRCASE — DAY
From the top of the stairs, Rebecca sees the two women. With what little poise she has left, she dismisses them both with a wave of her hand, as if she were shooing away flies.
REBECCA
What are you doing there? Get out! You look like vultures!
Like a shot, Maraea heads downstairs.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
I don’t want to see you two gossiping again.
From the ground floor, Maraea turns to her lady at the top of the stairs, nods submissively, then scurries into the kitchen.
Rebecca walks towards her bedroom.
Paraiti rises slowly and follows Rebecca.
INT. BEDROOM — DAY
The young woman picks up her pace as if to escape from the healer.
Just before Rebecca can close the bedroom door tight, Paraiti shoves her crude, bare foot into the door jamb.
Rebecca shoves harder, like a cruel little girl torturing an insect. But Paraiti has suffered worse and refuses to extract her foot.
Giving up, Rebecca relaxes her pressure then turns to enter deeper into the bedroom.
Paraiti enters behind her and closes the door.
INT. DRESSING CLOSET /
REBECCA’S BEDROOM — DAY
Paraiti follows Rebecca into the walkin closet.
PARAITI
Why are you doing all this? I know women who would die to have a baby …
REBECCA
You stupid woman … How could you ever understand?
PARAITI
Do you think your husband will throw you out if he discovers that you are pregnant with another man’s child?
Rebecca holds back any expression that could reveal her feelings.
PARAITI (CONT’D)
He will forgive you. You are beautiful … Beauty can soften the heart of any man. I have seen it all before.
Finished, Paraiti falls silent.
Rebecca draws close to Paraiti and confides in a chilling and secretive voice:
REBECCA
So you think you have seen it all before? You have no idea.
Rebecca looks exhausted, defeated, almost old. She hasn’t the energy to debate Paraiti. The tone of her reply carries none of her superiority. She is simply worn out.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
We all have our wounds, Scarface … Some carry them inside, like me.
Rebecca looks at her directly. Paraiti sustains her gaze, almost intrigued.
Before Paraiti can respond, Rebecca’s icy and authoritarian tone orders her to avoid further intimacies.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
You have a job to do. Just do it! That is all you are allowed. Nothing else.
Paraiti walks towards the door, but before she leaves the room she turns back to look at Rebecca one more time.
INT. STAIRCASE — NIGHT
Paraiti and Maraea walk up the stairs holding a couple of long wooden sticks on which a pot of steaming sand is balanced.
Aware that the balance of the pot depends on the coordination of their movements, both make an effort to work together and control the precarious task.
INT. REBECCA’S BEDROOM — NIGHT
Dressed in a beautiful long night robe, Rebecca sits on a chair, her legs apart.
The door of the room is wide open.
Paraiti and Maraea enter the room with the pot of steaming sand. Slowly, they approach Rebecca and they place the steaming pot with extreme care close to her feet.
Paraiti scoops some hot sand with a bowl, as Maraea pours boiling water on it. Steam comes out of the bowl.
Rebecca looks at the servant, who cannot hold her gaze and immediately lowers her eyes.
Paraiti uses the folds of her skirt to hold the steaming pot by the edge, and places it in between the young woman’s legs, under her robe.
Rebecca reacts immediately to the burning steam, but after a minute she manages to control herself.
Paraiti checks on Rebecca to make sure she can tolerate the treatment.
Never losing her composure, Rebecca tolerates the pain with no expression whatsoever.
Paraiti lifts the pot a bit higher under Rebecca’s robe.
This time Rebecca twists in pain.
Paraiti stops and puts the bowl on the floor. Paraiti looks at Rebecca … and leaves the bowl on the floor.
As soon as the door closes behind the healer, Rebecca lets out a deep but suffocated groan of pain and anguish.
INT. REBECCA’S BEDROOM — DAY
The bedroom is in shadow.
Maraea sits to one side of Rebecca’s bed watching her mistress sleep. She pulls back a lock of Rebecca’s hair that has fallen across her sweat-soaked forehead. It is a close and loving gesture.
Paraiti enters slowly.
Sensing Paraiti’s presence, Maraea reverts to her solicitous servile demeanour. She immediately pretends to arrange the pillow where her mistress’s head rests.
PARAITI
Awhina mai. Tukuna iho ia ki runga i te papa. Tikina he whariki me etahi miro.
SUBTITLE:
We need to place her on the floor. Get some clean sheets and blankets.
MARAEA
The floor? The floor is no place for my mistress!
Paraiti doesn’t show any signs of patience.
PARAITI
I te papa!
SUBTITLE:
I said, on the floor!
Paraiti doesn’t move, watching the servant until she scampers out of the bedroom like a centipede.
INT. REBECCA’S BEDROOM — DAY
Rebecca rests on the floor amid throw-pillows and fine blankets. She appears very pale with enormous dark circles around her eyes. Her hair is unkempt.
Paraiti is kneeling behind Rebecca, facing her back. She is manipulating the lower back muscles with gentle and rhythmic movements.
In short order, Rebecca becomes impatient.
REBECCA
Don’t waste time. You have to push it out, not pamper me!
PARAITI
Don’t tell me my work.
Undisturbed, Paraiti continues working.
PARAITI (CONT’D)
I need to open your hips.
From the corner of the room, Maraea looks on in anguish.
PARAITI (CONT’D)
Soon you will be begging me to pamper you.
Paraiti applies forceful pressure to the woman’s hips, pushing, pulling, freely tugging and manipulating the pelvic bone structure in all directions.
Suddenly, Rebecca cries out in pain.
Maraea hurries over to take her mistress’s hand in hers.
Rebecca turns to Maraea. Her look is desperate, almost supplicating. Maraea’s face turns steely. She pulls her hands back from Rebecca’s and returns to her corner of the room.
The lady and the servant remain looking at each other, as if having a secret and murky dialogue. It’s only a few seconds before Rebecca returns to that place of intense pain.
Exhausted, Paraiti drops back and sits on the floor.
PARAITI (CONT’D)
More tomorrow. This is too much.
Maraea dares not speak to Rebecca and directs her comment to Paraiti.
MARAEA
There is little time to lose. My mistress will need time to recover …
It takes a long moment for Rebecca to fully register the meaning of Maraea’s remark. She looks her in the eye, contemptuously.
REBECCA
Get out of here.
Maraea obeys.
Once the servant has closed the door behind her, Rebecca orders Paraiti.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
Keep on working!
Exhausted, Paraiti sits beside Rebecca.
PARAITI
Tomorrow, I said!
Slowly and with great difficulty, Paraiti stands up and leaves the room.
Rebecca stays there, alone and broken, like an abandoned rag doll.
EXT. BACK GARDEN — NIGHT
Paraiti is sitting by the fire. She holds her head with both hands. Oti is by her side, looking at her.
Paraiti looks at her dog and is about to start talking, but can’t. She covers her mouth with the palm of her hand and moves her head, unable to articulate one word.
Oti keeps looking at Paraiti and whines, as if she is trying to express what her mistress cannot say.
Paraiti extends her hand and silently calls her dog closer to her. She caresses it with gratitude and love. Both mistress and dog share, in silence, the darkness of the moment.
INT. REBECCA’S BEDROOM — AFTERNOON
The door of the bedroom is blocked from the inside with a chair.
Rebecca is still stretched out on the floor, asleep. She appears very pale, her hair is messy and unkempt. Her beautiful face has become twisted, greyish and dry.
Paraiti is kneeling at her side. She, too, appears terribly worn out, spent.
Paraiti closes her eyes and quietly whispers a prayer.
After a moment she begins to massage Rebecca’s belly with precise movements.
All of a sudden, Paraiti sees a movement in Rebecca’s womb. She closes her eyes and, taking her time, follows the movements coming from inside the swollen belly with soft and gentle hands.
A smile of joy comes to Paraiti’s face. She cannot take her eyes off the hypnotic movements inside Rebecca’s womb.
After a moment, delicately, she places Rebecca’s hands on her own pregnant belly.
Paraiti waits.
Nothing happens.
Paraiti places her hands over Rebecca’s hands like she did in the past with Aroha, as if she will guide them.
No movement in the belly.
Paraiti places Rebecca’s hands at the sides of her body and observes. There is no more movement coming from the womb.
Paraiti puts her own hands back on Rebecca’s belly, and she feels a clear jump.
Rebecca continues to sleep. Her enormous belly moves.
For the first time, we see Paraiti totally happy, relieved.
Always following the movements coming from Rebecca’s womb, in a perfect pas de deux, Paraiti’s hands move softly.
She sings a peaceful, quiet, sacred lullaby.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE
REBECCA’S BEDROOM — NIGHT
Maraea carries her mistress’s dinner tray in her hands. She tries to open the door to the room, but she can’t.
She pushes the door with her hips with no success.
INT. REBECCA’S BEDROOM — NIGHT
Paraiti has fallen asleep by Rebecca’s side. Her hands are still in contact with Rebecca’s belly.
The noise of the door being pushed wakes her up.
She goes to the door and drags the chair away and opens the door.
INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE
REBECCA’S BEDROOM — NIGHT
Maraea tries to get inside the bedroom, but Paraiti closes the door and stands in front of her, blocking her way in.
MARAEA
What are you doing? If I were you I would be very careful, Paraiti. Let’s be very clear about this!
Paraiti is calm and peaceful. Somehow she knows she doesn’t have any more need to confront Maraea.
PARAITI
You want to be clear about this? You want it in English? Fine, let’s be clear once and for all. What I am doing and what I will keep on doing is everything in my power to bring this child to life! That is what I have always been doing in that room!
Maraea is paralysed.
PARAITI
Whether your mistress survives is no concern of mine, but whether the child comes dead or alive, either way, I keep it. Now you know the price of my work!
With that, Paraiti leaves the room.
Maraea cannot contain her surprise. She goes inside the bedroom, and closes the door silently.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BATHROOM — DAY
Rebecca, pale and exhausted, is stretched out in the tub. She can hardly hold the position of her body.
The bath water is milky white except for a tiny red cloud floating above her pubic area.
She hears the rushing footsteps of Maraea and Paraiti.
MARAEA (OFF SCREEN)
She is in the bathroom … The labour pains have started!
Paraiti rushes inside, followed by the servant, who stands in the doorway.
With the little strength that is left in her, Rebecca casts a sharp, hateful look at Paraiti.
REBECCA
Who do you think you are, you old witch? You have no right to demand anything!
Ignoring her, Paraiti approaches the bath, kneels beside it and places her hand on Rebecca’s wet crotch.
PARAITI
You are the one who is in no position to demand … Its life, or yours … I decide!
REBECCA
I don’t care much for my life if this creature lives! It will haunt me forever!
Maraea comes over, sits by the edge of the bath tub at Rebecca’s side, then takes the young woman’s head in her hands to kiss her forehead.
MARAEA
You can’t give up now! I told you. Let her have the child if that is what she wants!
Rebecca shuts up, but refuses, shaking her head ‘no’. Tears roll down her face.
MARAEA (CONT’D)
Think how far you have come … Think about what you have endured to have a life of dignity.
Rebecca looks down at her pregnant body covered with white paste, submerged in the water. With a bitter smile, she turns to face Maraea.
REBECCA
Dignity? What do you see here in me that reminds you of anything like dignity, Mother?
Holding Rebecca’s belly, Paraiti is in shock. She cannot move.
PARAITI
I pehea mai koe?
SUBTITLE:
What did you just say?
Although Rebecca is talking to Paraiti, her eyes are locked right into Maraea’s eyes.
REBECCA
She has bleached me! Since I can remember she has bleached my skin …
Paraiti is appalled. She can hardly react to what she is hearing.
REBECCA (CONT’D)
She said that it would be better if I was white …
Paraiti can hardly believe what she is hearing. She looks at Maraea, who immediately lowers her eyes.
PARAITI
(To MARAEA)
Tenei tamaiti he mokopuna nau …?!
SUBTITLE:
The baby is your grandchild …!?
Paraiti hastens towards the bathroom door.
Maraea runs after and blocks her exit, stopping her.
MARAEA
You cannot run away now! It’s too late … You are part of it now!
Paraiti gathers all the equanimity she is capable of.
PARAITI
I am not going anywhere! Listen to me carefully.
Rebecca’s contractions begin and she cries in pain.
Paraiti states with unquestionable authority:
PARAITI (CONT’D)
Ka whakawhanau too tamaahine pena i a koe i te wa i whakawhanau ai koe. Hoatu koe whakaritea nga ahua moona pena tonu i te whakarite a too whaea mou, to kuia me nga wahine katoa o to taha ukaipo mai rano!
SUBTITLE:
Your daughter is going to give birth just like you did. Go and prepare everything the way your mother did for you, your grandmother and all of our women before her!
Stunned by Paraiti’s fury and out of options, Maraea rushes from the bathroom to do as she is told.
Rebecca has another contraction.
Paraiti rushes toward the bath, grabs a towel and gets inside the tub herself. She covers Rebecca’s shoulders and locks her arms around Rebecca’s nude body.
Unable to resist anymore, Rebecca lets herself rest in Paraiti’s arms.
Viscous remains of the white concoction still drip from her ghost-like skin.
INT. STAIRCASE — DAY
With great difficulty, Paraiti and Rebecca descend the stairs. Rebecca supports herself by hanging onto Paraiti’s ample, crooked frame.
INT. HALLWAY — DAY
Paraiti and Rebecca slowly walk through the hallway, entangled in a clumsy, awkward, but undeniably bonded embrace.
At the far end of the hallway, alone, Maraea sees them come. Without paying any attention to the servant, Paraiti and Rebecca disappear behind a door. Maraea follows them and closes the door behind her.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BASEMENT — DUSK
The cellar, a small, damp hole, barely illuminated by the stove fire, resembles a tight and bloody womb.
The space is filled with the deep sound of Paraiti chanting a karakia, inviting the unborn to come to life, to the land of the ancestors and to be redeemed by the love of the people and relieved from all pains.
Not too far away, Rebecca can hardly stand on her feet. Maraea, seated on the dirt floor by her side, is holding her exhausted daughter.
Paraiti extends her arms towards Rebecca’s belly and, for a second, the three bodies gather together in such close contact that it makes an organic but murky cocoon.
When Rebecca feels the hands of the healer on her skin, she separates herself from the support of her mother, as if guided by the invisible strings of a master puppeteer, and leans over Paraiti.
Paraiti carefully begins to caress the swollen belly, searching for signs of life inside the womb.
Through a small window, the rays of the moon cast across Rebecca’s face. She holds the head of the medicine woman in her hands and, from a place unknown to her, beyond all her possible memories, a weak and broken voice follows the song of the ancient prayer.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BASEMENT — NIGHT
Rebecca supports herself by gripping an overhead ceiling rafter. The position allows her slack body to droop in a squatting position with her knees wide apart.
On her knees facing Rebecca, Paraiti alternates between applying the soft massaging movements of her hands with heavier pressure on Rebecca’s womb.
Rebecca cries in pain and drops, limp. Maraea runs to her side and, holding her from behind, supports all her dead weight.
Paraiti works desperately. She searches for signs of life from the unborn baby. She cannot find any, but is undeterred. Placing her lips on Rebecca’s belly, over her womb, she whispers to the baby.
Nothing.
Paraiti strokes Rebecca’s stomach, then waits with quiet hands. Seconds later, she continues her massage.
The labour pains grow, making Paraiti’s work more desperate.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BASEMENT — DAWN
The three women are spent. The birth has been prolonged.
Paraiti now applies pressure with her knees.
Rebecca cries out in pain. By this time, she recoils from everything.
Paraiti listens more closely to the baby in the womb.
With extreme care, she places her hands between Rebecca’s legs and receives the tiny body of a BABY GIRL … Her skin is brown!
Paraiti’s face shines, overcome with joy.
From a cord hanging between her breasts, Paraiti takes a small obsidian stone filed into a blade. She severs the umbilical cord that still unites Rebecca to the newborn body.
PARAITI
(To REBECCA)
You have a daughter …!
Nearly unconscious now, Rebecca lets her body drop. Maraea carefully rests her on the floor.
Holding the baby with both hands right in front of her face, Paraiti gently presses her forehead against the baby’s and, with a long and deep hongi, she welcomes the baby to life and to the land.
With a subtle, almost imperceptible breath, followed by a quiet small cry, the infant reacts.
Paraiti opens her blouse and warms the baby girl against her old and empty breasts.
Maraea embraces Rebecca, as if she could hold in her arms all the sufferings of her child. Not unlike a distorted ‘Pieta’ …
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BASEMENT — DAY
The first light of dawn enters through the little window.
Rebecca, beyond exhaustion, rests in her mother’s lap with her eyes closed.
Paraiti then holds the baby very close to Rebecca’s breast and places the little mouth onto the nipple.
The newborn hesitates a few moments before taking to Rebecca’s breast but, once she does, she sucks vehemently.
For a few seconds, the three women are held together, surrounding the tiny body of the baby girl.
All is silent, apart from the sound of the baby sucking the mother’s milk.
Rebecca turns her face away from the child, totally disengaging herself from what is happening between herself and the baby, as if she doesn’t want to be in her own body anymore.
Making sure the baby is held securely by Maraea, Paraiti moves away, collects the placenta from the dirt floor and carefully places it in a piece of clean cloth.
Maraea strokes Rebecca’s face.
MARAEA
It’s all over. It’s all over … In a few months you will not even remember any of this …
Appalled by Maraea’s words, Paraiti turns towards her.
PARAITI
I te wa e no te ana te tamaiti i te u o toona whaea, kaua koe e whakatata mai.
SUBTITLE:
As long as this child is on her mother’s breast, you will not come near them.
EXT. BACK GARDEN — DAY
Paraiti holds the cloth containing Rebecca’s placenta. The baby is tightly wrapped across her breasts.
She kneels by the roots of a tree and digs a hole with her hands. She places the placenta in the hole and covers it with soil.
Paraiti prays, having given back to the earth, the origin of life.
PARAITI
He honore, he kororia, he maungarongo ki te whenua, he whakaaro pai ki nga tangata katoa, amine. E taku kaiwhakaora, tenei te tuku atu i te whenua ki te whenua, kia heria mai, kia kawea mai e koe te mauri o tera o nga tamaiti i mate mai, kia paiherehia raua, kia hoki atu ano ki te wahi i ahu mai raua. Kororia ki to ingoa tapu. Amine.
SUBTITLE:
Glory be to Thy holy name. The giver of life. I commit this placenta to the land. That it may be joined to the spirit and the life force of the mother and the baby lost in the past and together they may return to the womb of the land, the source of the universe. Glory be to Thy holy name. Amen.
Not too far away, half-hidden behind the veranda of the big villa, Maraea quietly observes the ritual burial of her granddaughter’s placenta.
INT. BASEMENT — EVENING
In a corner of the basement, Paraiti is seated of an old armchair. She is cradling the newborn girl in her arms. Close to her is an organised and tidy arrangement of herbs, leaves and clean tea towels.
Paraiti inspects with care the wound of the umbilical cord on the baby, then takes a bundle of fresh green leaves, puts them in her mouth and chews them. Once she is sure the mash of leaves is soft and moist, she applies it carefully to the wound.
Paraiti covers the wound with fresh leaves and finishes dressing the baby in strips of white cloth.
INT. BASEMENT — NIGHT
Rebecca sleeps, sprawled out on the floor, her limp body partially covered by blankets.
Paraiti sleeps peacefully in the armchair. On top of her, nestled between her breasts, but perfectly wrapped in clean rugs, rests the newborn.
The amber light of a small fire flickers with its warmth on them.
Right by the outside of the doorway that frames the basement entrance, huddled in her own body, sleeps Maraea.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. BASEMENT — MORNING
The basement area is now clean and tidy, luminous.
Paraiti opens her blouse and warms the baby girl against her old and empty breasts.
She massages the little body, admiring its perfection.
PARAITI
Too purotu … me too ataahua hoki!
SUBTITLE:
How perfect … and how beautiful you are!
Maraea, sitting on the stairs, forbidden to come any closer, watches Paraiti and the baby.
The baby begins to cry, searching in Paraiti’s dry breasts for the milk she needs.
Paraiti holds the child in her embrace and carries her to where Rebecca, still sleeping, lies helpless across the mattress.
Paraiti opens the camisole that covers Rebecca, and places the baby near her breast. Rebecca opens her eyes and reacts with fear and disgust to the presence of the baby.
With her left hand Paraiti positions Rebecca’s nipple, ensuring that the baby has a firm hold.
PARAITI
You may not want to feed this baby, but this baby will live.
Rebecca cries.
The baby cries.
Paraiti is broken by the pain of the mother and the child. Overwhelmed by a feeling of impotence, she confronts Maraea.
PARAITI (CONT’D)
Titiro, nau tera mahi, koina rawa too hiahia? Hoake! E puta.