AMY FOSTER
INSPIRED B Y JOSEPH CONRAD'S SHORT STORY "AMY FOSTER"
- Look Mama, the sea. - Yes, the sea.
That is where you came from.
Amy! Amy!
Amy...
My daughter's taken a turn. She's asked for you.
I sent a man to fetch Dr. Kennedy.
Go on there!
Don't worry, Miss Swaffer. I won't leave you.
Thank you for your care, Amy. You'll not be needed further.
Sir, I had intended to stay here through the night.
If I consider it necessary, I will stay.
Leave the doctor to attend me, Amy.
God bless you.
Really, Doctor! Your cruelty was unnecessary.
- Will she die, Mama? - Dr. Kennedy's with her.
- Who's the doctor? - Come on, young man.
Why do you hate her so much?
Do you, too, consider her a simpleton?
It is not my purpose to consider Amy Foster at all.
You risk gangrene of the blood.
I must cut away the poisoned flesh, or you will die of it tonight.
Perhaps that gives me license to be bold.
Reluctant as you may be to consider Amy, -
- it would comfort me to know the tale entire.
- If I am to die... - You will not die!
I will not permit it.
Perhaps it will ease my fever. And yours, too.
I dare say no one person knows the tale entire.
But perhaps I know more than most.
He said he was a mountaineer...
From a remote corner of the Carpathian Mountains.
They called him Yanko.
His family sold a cow and some land in order to pay for his journey.
Yanko carried with him their hopes and dreams for a better world.
A land of freedom.
He called it "a land of true gold. "
America!
Yanko...
- Yanko, I'm here! - Stefan!
- We are the lucky ones. - We are the lucky ones?
Farewell, farewell!
The journey was long and grueling.
Yanko and his companions were locked in the cattle cars.
Dirty, hungry and cold.
Finally they arrived at the ship in which they would cross the sea.
HAMBURG, GERMANY
Stefan!
- Stefan! - We'll meet in America!
- To America! - To America!
At least he had his dream for company.
- And found himself a nightmare. - Until he met Amy Foster.
Fate is both inscrutable and merciless, Miss Swaffer.
You're determined to blame Amy, like those who say she brought the storm.
You insult me.
Witchcraft and other despicable superstitions are abhorrent to me.
But I won't deny that I always found her a strange creature.
She was the product of a family scandal.
She was sent to work at Smith's farm when only twelve years old.
I admit she was a mystery to me.
But I never thought Amy was a witch or a simpleton.
Go on there, now!
Tom, William! Get the horses down the back meadow, quickly!
The devil is riding this wind!
Tom, get those pigs out of there!
Amy? Amy Foster!
What the bloody hell...?
Amy!
Why are you in the dark? Go and make Mr. Smith some tea.
- What's up? - Ship down, in the bay.
My boys, my boys!
Where are my fine boys?
Don't fret for your boys. It was an immigrant ship, not one of our own.
Not one of our own...
Praises be. Praises be to God!
- Hold your tongue, Widow Cree! - The sea will curse me for that.
- 'Tis a curse! - There, there.
- We will be cursed! - Quiet!
No one else is going to be cursed! Not one amongst you.
But we will see our duty done by this tragic day.
Ladies... Take care for her.
The rest of us have work to do.
Did you save any, Doctor?
I have looked into every face. There is not a living soul amongst them.
"I was not in safety, neither had I rest, -
- neither was I quiet. Yet trouble came. "
There's no more I can do.
These souls are in Your hands now.
The ailments of the living do not wait upon the dead.
Amy... For God's sake, bolt the door!
Stay away from that window.
William, William!
There's a beast in the yard!
- What in damnation is going on? - There's a lunatic in the yard.
By Christ! I'll get rid of the blackguard.
I'll teach him to go around frightening women.
I'll sort him out, that I will.
All right now, let's be having you!
All right, my friend.
If you'll bear with me... let's see if we can't work something out.
Thank you sir, for letting me rest on your property.
- I've done nothing wrong. - All right, you go down here.
I'm not a beggar, I'm a traveler.
- Christ almighty! - Dog, get down, down!
Don't!
- He meant no harm. - Get you in that house, girl.
Get you in, now! Get you on with your work.
Can you eat this?
Dear lady...
Thank you for coming over so prompt.
- He's madder than a March hare. - Haven't seen one of them in years.
Last time I did, it seemed like any other variety.
Perhaps you mistake my meaning. I believe, like others, -
- that this creature escaped from a lunatic asylum. God knows where.
Your advice would comfort me. But maniacs do not lack for cunning.
When I wrestled him in here he looked like a monster, -
- and it crossed my mind that that's what he was. Watch yourself, sir.
Why, he was filthy as a pig...
Did you open this door? You could have got us all murdered!
- He was dirty. - You washed him? Good Christ, girl!
If you weren't an idiot, I'd suspect unnatural practices. Get inside!
I'd suggest this man would benefit from the services of a barber.
But as we both know, such is not available in these parts.
All too true, sir.
Just the same, I do be damned if I know what to do with him.
He is a funniosity.
That's the last we'll see of him. Let old Swaffer sort him out!
I won't forget, dear lady!
Never, never!
It must have been terrible to be helpless in a foreign land.
That winter, Yanko endured overwhelming loneliness.
I'm paid to herd sheep, not dig ditches for someone else's shit!
Swaffer's forgotten what century we're in.
You'll just have to do enough for both of us.
He worked for no wages. To all intents, a slave.
And he had no language with which to explain himself.
He told me later, his only comfort was the memory of the girl -
- who had given him bread.
I don't know if Amy ever thought of him.
Her life continued, without variation.
Each Sunday, she had to visit her parents, Mary and Isaac Foster.
You're late.
- Mother, Father... - Why does she come back here?
- She comes to help her mother. - She's a queer sort.
Is it any wonder, the way you treat her?
You'd silence the birds in the trees.
- I put food on her plate... - She puts food on our table!
- I'll say what I want in my house. - Your house? It's Swaffer's.
Why remind me of that? Bloody embarrassment, she is.
- Isaac! - Picking up rubbish off the beach.
Everybody knows!
Where do you think you're going?
- I'm talking to you, lady! - Isaac, please!
Isaac had been disinherited because of his scandalous marriage.
He still blamed Amy for all their woes.
Perhaps that's why she used silence as a weapon against them.
They isolated Amy from the village, so she gave her love to the sea.
But the sea was not lover enough.
Check.
Well, I'll be damned if you don't have me again.
You've a hard heart at chess, but don't your laborers get Sunday off?
I don't know if that's what you'd call him.
Smith caught him in the stack-yard at New Barns.
Reckons him to be a lunatic.
You've been all over the world. Tell me, -
- do you think this is a Hindu we've got here?
Not unless he's undergone an unlikely conversion.
He puts me in mind of the Basques.
Do you speak Spanish, seņor?
You are in England.
Do you speak French? Do you understand?
Thank you, sir.
He's learned a few words from my daughter.
He seems to call himself Yankoo Goorall.
Yanko! Please...?
Oh... Yes, by all means.
Moscow? Tolstoy, Checkov...
Oh damn... Think, man!
- The Volga? Kiev? - Kiev is the capital of my country.
Swaffer, he's a Russian!
- They're great chess players. - I was on my way to America.
America.
- How long has this man been here? - Since winter. A couple of months.
- My daughter is better at... - February 18th.
The day the sea gave up its dead.
Swaffer, you have here the only survivor of the Eastbay disaster.
Dr. James Kennedy.
Kennedy.
Do you think he knows... that all his companions perished?
I don't know...
If you can spare him sometimes, I would like to teach him English.
I don't see why not.
Perhaps he'll teach you chess, so your visits are worth the journey.
Sit down.
Eat.
It'll be regular from now on.
It's money.
You'll work daylight hours, Sundays off.
What you do with your own time is your own business.
There is a girl on the farm...
A girl? You don't mean our Amy?
Amy? Perhaps it is her name.
A gracious lady... of great beautiful.
Our Amy? You'd have as much chance with Swaffer's mare.
And a better time of it too, I shouldn't wonder!
Mr. Swaffer, you brought the lumber! William will be so pleased.
- He hasn't heard the price yet. - Come in for some tea.
- A cup of tea would be civilized. - You two, stay out here.
Thank you. Thank you.
Hold on, Amy.
Haven't you got a minute for your poor old father?
Father...
This lad here thinks you're a gracious lady, did you know that?
"Great beautiful!"
And you do look quite fetching in that pinny!
Can't take a joke, see?
Don't you want your cake, then?
- No, Kennedy, move no good. - "That is not a good move. "
"That is not a good move. " Precisely!
You learn English faster than I learn chess.
- Miss... helps I, me... - Miss Swaffer.
Why is Miss in... car-chair?
Some twenty years ago, she was engaged to be married...
On the eve of her wedding day, she fell from her horse.
She had a passion for riding. She broke her spine.
The marriage was quietly forgotten. By her intended, if not by her.
That is why she always wears clothes of black?
It would certainly be reason enough.
Why you have not married, Kennedy?
Oh, I was! A lifetime ago.
Two lifetimes... my wife and child. A son.
The typhus epidemic of '74 took them both. On the same night.
- But you do not wear black? - No.
Chess like in the life.
You must look to the forward.
Far to the forward.
Checkmate.
Not so fast!
I've a nice hog's head for you...
There's your ribbon and your change.
Can I help you, sir?
I thought for a moment it was the Prince of Wales!
These well and strong, but I have better...
- A real suit, like yours. - Very handsome, I'm sure.
- And the other one? - This is... my mystery.
- "This is my secret. " - "This is my secret. "
Well, every man is entitled to his secrets.
Especially if he has a fine suit.
Gracious lady...
Forgive me.
- Thank you. - Thank you, thank you...
I would like, with your accepting, if you would be pleased...
Forgive me. I should like to walk out with you.
You will?
Mother of Jesus, bless you.
Thank you.
When may I call again?
- Sunday is my day. - Sunday... thank you.
Amy? Haven't you finished that floor yet?
- Thank you, God! - You bloody lunatic!
Aye aye... Look who's here.
Does Swaffer know you're running loose?
I tell you, Malcolm, that man must be some kind of epileptic.
The devil take me! Amy, get back in before the missus comes home!
Well, I never did...
I hope you know what you're doing, young lady! Do you hear me, Amy?
There'll be hell to pay when your father finds out, you mark my words!
- Is your country beautiful? - Yes. The people's hearts are good.
- This is... - The sea.
The ancient sea, the dark sea... The cruel sea.
- That's where you came from. - I remember only blackness, wind.
And the crying of children.
It's where all the hearts of earth that are lost to love and to fear -
- lie waiting to be reborn.
This is not Christian...
You must be mad yourself, to take up with a man who's wrong in the head.
If you'd looked into his eyes, as I have, -
- you'd be able to tell that that man is dangerous.
You should listen to Mr. And Mrs. Smith. They care about you.
- We're the talk of the parish. - It won't be the first time!
- We're the experts, aren't we? - You're not much of a husband.
But you could try to be a father to your children.
- Tell her to stay away from him. - I can't tell her anything.
- I should have chosen your father. - But I love him!
Go and have your way with your gypo!
Amy... When I was your age I was foolish too, do you understand?
- I was in love. - You and Father were married late.
- I know you were expecting me. - That madness is treacherous.
- It's God's trick upon us women... - Mary, get her out of my house!
It's none of my business how you live your life, -
- but if I catch you round my farm again, I'll break your head!
And I can't say fairer than that!