Bishops18SophieInterview Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
[bottom]
INTERVIEWER
Hi, what's your name?
SOPHIE
Sophie.
INTERVIEWER
Is that all?
SOPHIE
Sophie Riesinger.
INTERVIEWER
Where do you live?
SOPHIE
I live a few miles from Essen. You can make out the
cathedral from my cabin.
INTERVIEWER
You live in a cabin?
SOPHIE
Yes. My father constructed it before I was born, with my
mother. It is a little drafty when the snows come, but I
padded the cracks with wool several months ago. When there
is clean firewood, the place warms enough during the winter.
INTERVIEWER
You live alone there?
SOPHIE
I do.
INTERVIEWER
How old are you?
SOPHIE
I'm twenty. Now I know what you are going to say. "Why
aren't you married?" As though it were a problem to be
solved. Just last week I was carrying two buckets of milk
back to the cabin and there was Dieter van Houten, riding his
ridiculous little wagon and a sprig of hay bouncing in the
corner of his mouth. "Ding dong," he hollers at me.
"There's our wedding bells! Let's get married!" Well, I
gave him a look that would freeze a lake, and he slunk right
down in that wagon, his hat around his ears, and he just rode
on by. Never said another word to me.
INTERVIEWER
Where are your parents?
SOPHIE
My ma died when I was almost a baby. My pa got ill and
passed last summer.
INTERVIEWER
You were raised by your father?
SOPHIE
I was, and he did as good a job as any ma. He taught me to
fight with my fists, though, just like a boy. For a time I
could beat any boy.
INTERVIEWER
What happened?
SOPHIE
They got big.
INTERVIEWER
Don't you like boys?
SOPHIE
A handful are easy on the eyes, but in all honesty, I've
never met one I could tolerate but for a few minutes.
They're always quick to make google-eyes and whistle and sing
boisterous songs.
INTERVIEWER
Why do you think the boys do that?
SOPHIE
Oh, my body, I suppose. Boys are always talking about my
body or my hair. They all want to have sex with me, and they
go about declaring it to me as rudely as they can. It is as
though I carry around a bit of jewelry all the time, that I
have no desire to be carrying about, that all boys constantly
want to pickpocket from me. It is all no end of annoying.
INTERVIEWER
So what made Jan van Leyden different?
SOPHIE
It wasn't the bishop title, though I admit the idea of
marrying a bishop appealed to me when I was a little girl.
It was the way he used words. I do like words, if they are
the right ones. He made me feel a bit special, I suppose,
important even. Smart.
INTERVIEWER
Do you consider yourself smart?
SOPHIE
I'm smarter than most of the fools who whistle for my
attention like a barmaid. Since I was a small girl, my
father schooled me. I know lots of things about baking and
horses and running a farm. He taught me how best to sell the
milk in the market, without giving up too much money in the
barter. It is a subtle trick, and one done best with a clear
head. I don't touch beer.
INTERVIEWER
But Leyden made you feel smart?
SOPHIE
Well, no. He didn't make me feel smart, so much as see who I
am actually. I can do things. I can add and subtract and
multiply up to ninety-nine. I know the history of the world.
I know the basic elements, the books of the Bible, how to
keep a fire for a year, and how to sharpen a knife. I can
hunt with a bow. I take rabbits from time to time. That is
me. He saw me as I am.
INTERVIEWER
Are you bragging?
SOPHIE
No. A little.
INTERVIEWER
Do you think Leyden is smart?
SOPHIE
He's very smart in some ways and very stupid in others. He
has many fancy words and he can string them together into
pretty necklaces to give to me or his other women, but he
never says what he really wants.
INTERVIEWER
What do you mean?
SOPHIE
He lies as a matter of course. Even when it's more
convenient to tell the truth, he'll make up a stack of lies
and hand them to me, like a bouquet with a ribbon. It's
almost as though he likes getting into trouble.
INTERVIEWER
When did you first decide that Leyden was a liar?
SOPHIE
When he opened his mouth to me. He is a very bad liar.
INTERVIEWER
Do you love Leyden?
SOPHIE
How do you know when you are in love?
INTERVIEWER
What do you think?
SOPHIE
I guess you are supposed to get a tingly feeling. I never
really got a tingly feeling about anything, except wool and
muslin. I love muslin very much. Anyway, he is the second
man to speak gently to me. He makes me feel that I am of
value for something other than whistling and catcalling.
INTERVIEWER
Who was the first?
SOPHIE
My father. After my ma died, he did a good job as my pa. My
pa taught me to read words. Reading words is really not so
bad. They are made from letters, and if you know the
letters, more often than not you can know the words. It just
takes some practice and anyone can do it.
INTERVIEWER
How did he die?
SOPHIE
Gut stoppage. I was with him when he passed. I think the
hardest thing for him was knowing that I would be alone after
he was gone. He feared that when he was gone, the world
would eat me whole. Of course I knew it couldn't, that I
could take care of myself, but he wouldn't believe me. So he
died, feeling afraid he couldn't protect me anymore. I
couldn't put his mind at ease. He was a good pa in all
things.
INTERVIEWER
Is Jan van Leyden like your pa?
SOPHIE
Not really, no. Pa was honest and quiet as snow. Well, to
everyone except me, he was. Jan is a talker. Once he gets
started, you can't do anything. You just have to let him
finish.
INTERVIEWER
You speak badly of Jan.
SOPHIE
It's easy to talk bad of Jan when he's not around. But when
he's around, I believe him. Maybe not the way I believe that
the sun is warm and the streams are cold, but in the way that
I believe in pixies.
INTERVIEWER
What are pixies?
SOPHIE
They put the dew on the grass in the mornings. I never see
pixies, but my father told me that they are responsible for
the morning dew. I suppose if I were to think about it I
would doubt them. But I never think about them too hard.
Pixies are a story. The story is nice. So I believe in
them.
INTERVIEWER
So you believe Jan because of the prettiness of his stories?
SOPHIE
(laughs)
His face is not too bad either.
INTERVIEWER
You never answered my question. Do you love Jan?
SOPHIE
I suppose, in a way I do. He pulled a trick to make me marry
him, but underneath all his stories, you know, I really think
he does love me.
INTERVIEWER
How do you feel about the fact that he has married other
women?
SOPHIE
At first I found it very vexing. Why should he treat me as a
toy to be played with and forgotten and played with again?
But then I started to realize that it was his nature to love
in that way. He is like a big baby. When I have his
attention, I have his complete attention, and I am the only
woman in the world. But he is distracted by some other shiny
object and goes wandering off shortly.
INTERVIEWER
Doesn't that make you mad?
SOPHIE
It did, and then I realized that it is like getting mad at a
snake for biting you. It is simply him, and he will not
change. I don't think he is more bad than the average man.
He just doesn't love the way that a person should.
INTERVIEWER
How is that?
SOPHIE
Completely.
INTERVIEWER
What do you think of Heinrich?
SOPHIE
I think he has nice hair. Also I like the color of his eyes.
It seems to me that they change color depending on what he is
thinking at any moment. They tend to betray what is going on
in his heart. It is a shame that he spends so much time
trying to hide those feelings. He is a gentleman. I am sure
of that. He is very quiet. I wish he would talk more about
himself.
INTERVIEWER
If you could ask Heinrich any question, what would it be?
SOPHIE
"Why don't you tell me how you feel?"
INTERVIEWER
What do you think he'd say in response?
SOPHIE
(peeved)
Well, how am I supposed to know the answer to that?
INTERVIEWER
Let's change the subject. How did you feel when Leyden
married himself to you?
SOPHIE
I was angry at him. Why should he trick me like that to make
me love him?
INTERVIEWER
Did you love him?
SOPHIE
At that time, no. But he seemed so sincere in his
appreciation for me that I had to do something.
INTERVIEWER
Why didn't you just thank him and tell him to go away?
SOPHIE
(silence)
INTERVIEWER
Sophie?
SOPHIE
I don't know. He's very hard to refuse anything to. If you
refuse him, he asks you again, changing the question just a
little, always looking at you, so it's very hard to refuse
him outright. And you do want to believe him, when he says
those pretty words. Despite all his calculations and his
lies, he is harmless somehow. He is bad, but all the bad is
plain and easy to see. The good is in there, but hidden. It
pleases me to see him smile.
INTERVIEWER
Do you think he's taking advantage of you?
SOPHIE
Oh, he's as randy as a goat, and I'm not old and ugly yet. I
know that's why he wanted to bed me at first. And yet I
know, I really really know, that a part of him will be mine
for the rest of his life. I went along with his trick
marriage because he believed it was real.
INTERVIEWER
Did you want him?
SOPHIE
Not in that way. I don't own any glass for seeing myself.
But he is a flattering glass, and despite his faults, which
are deep, he has never once had unkind words for me.
INTERVIEWER
What are you most afraid of in life?
SOPHIE
(thinks)
Hard to say. Mathilda and Emelda are doing poorly.
INTERVIEWER
Who are they?
SOPHIE
Two of my cows. One has a problem with her foot. She cannot
walk well and she bleeds sometimes now. The other is
wheezing. They were my best milkers for a time. The others
are coming up, but they are young. If Mathilda's and
Emelda's milk gets the pus, I can't sell it. If they get too
sick, I'll have to do away with them somehow, and I can't
handle an axe very well. Oh well, no sense worrying over it.
INTERVIEWER
What do you think the greatest misconception about you is?
SOPHIE
Misconception?
INTERVIEWER
Yes, what do you think people are most likely to mistake
about you?
SOPHIE
Well, I think the boys tend to make me out as a tart or an
idiot.
INTERVIEWER
What are you wearing right now?
SOPHIE
(looks)
Clothes.
INTERVIEWER
Can you tell me about them?
SOPHIE
This dress was originally owned by my ma. I wore it today
for you, because I thought this was something important. But
it's only you, so I shouldn't have worn it. It is only for
special occasions.
INTERVIEWER
It seems a bit frayed at the edges.
SOPHIE
It is fine, and that's all you need to say about it.
INTERVIEWER
Are all your clothes like this dress?
SOPHIE
I have a shawl for travelling, and I cover my head properly
for Sunday mass. Otherwise, I make do with borrowed items
and hand-me-downs.
INTERVIEWER
Can you not sew your own clothes?
SOPHIE
I am sure I could if I wanted to, but my hands are not as cut
for fine work as when I was a small girl. I use my hands
every day and they are good for the farm and not for sewing.
INTERVIEWER
How do you feel about wearing these old clothes?
SOPHIE
First, these clothes are not so old. They are only a few
years old, and throwing out clothes just because they are old
is a waste and not to be tolerated.
INTERVIEWER
How do you feel about wearing old clothes, though?
SOPHIE
Sometimes I wish I had nicer things. Of course, no one
speaks badly to me, but sometimes at mass the women glance at
me a little longer than is necessary. I can take the
critical stares easily enough. It's the looks of pity that
get to me.
INTERVIEWER
Why don't you buy some?
SOPHIE
Am I made of money? Hardly. There are two other families
selling milk in Essen, and one can make cheese from his cows.
So I have to sell at a low price, else no one buys from me.
I make do with my clothes.
INTERVIEWER
Would you like some nicer clothes?
SOPHIE
Sometimes I look at the wives of merchants in the streets of
Essen, in their ruffled collars and their soft velvet. It
makes them beautiful, even though some of them are old and
not so comely any more. All the gentlemen bow to them as
they pass.
Sometimes I think that, were I to wear such things, all the
men would drop their eyes and be silent in respect and
admiration when I passed. But this is all imagination, and I
should not think about it any more.
INTERVIEWER
What do you most want out of life?
SOPHIE
It would be nice to be loved, at least a little. If nothing
else, I would like to be on friendly terms with a gentleman
before I die. If I had never met my father, I would never
have known that any man at all could be good. I would settle
for someone half as good.
INTERVIEWER
Can Leyden do that for you?
SOPHIE
I'm afraid this marriage with Jan will end badly. It's not
the natural order for one man to have more than one wife. I
can handle it better than some of the other women, but they
talk.
INTERVIEWER
Thanks for the interview, Sophie.
SOPHIE
Okay.
[top]
Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.