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268. Interior of SOPHIE’S apartment. It has been transformed. All the erotic crud is gone and there are pastoral things all over. Landscapes, statuettes of dogs, etc. SOPHIE is in a chair watching television, ideally the Dating Game or something like that. PLUTO appears in his usual fashion. We start our shot on one of the new-type figurines. We pull back to reveal the scene over the sounds from the TV.

PLUTO

Quite a change.

SOPHIE

You know, Pluto, I’ve just about had it with the sudden appearances.

PLUTO

Do you expect me to walk back and forth between here and Hell?

SOPHIE

You’d get mugged. But you could pop up in the hallway and knock on the door like a normal human being.

PLUTO

I’ll try it that way next time. Because it looks as though we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.

269. Two-shot favoring SOPHIE. She never takes her eyes off the tube.

SOPHIE

You mean I win?

PLUTO

I don’t know what’s winning and what’s losing. As far as you’re concerned that is. All I really know is that I lose.

SOPHIE

How?

PLUTO

(Bitterly.) I have to stay on your case until it’s resolved to your satisfaction. For however long it takes. If it takes a thousand years, then that’s how I spend my time for the next thousand years.

SOPHIE

Oh, you poor guy!

PLUTO

(Bitterness softened by her sympathy.) Yeah, well, at least I’ll have my fill of ice cream.

SOPHIE

(Moving toward kitchen.) Want some now?

PLUTO

I seem to have lost my taste for it.

270. PLUTO POV SOPHIE. He walks back to the couch and sits down, the camera follows and reframes another two-shot at this point.

PLUTO

Sophie, can I give you a suggestion as a friend? I’ve got, an ulterior motive, but I’d make the same suggestion anyway. Why not let them tear up the contract? You know, I couldn’t tell you this in advance, but Hell is no paradise. Why not get your soul back?

SOPHIE

(Thoughtfully.) I’ve almost been thinking that way myself, honey. (Sits down next to him.) I’ve been going through some changes lately.

PLUTO

It shows. (Gestures around the apartment.) (There is a knock on the door.)

SOPHIE

That must be Irving. Oh, why doesn’t he grow up? (She opens the door.)

271. Two-shot favoring IRVING.

IRVING

Sophie my little dove... (He has the Mona Lisa in his hand.) Let’s be naughty.

SOPHIE

Irving, Irving, don’t you realize it’s not that important?

IRVING

...you and me...

SOPHIE

(Gently pushing him out.) Irving, when was the last time you called your grandchildren, your great grandchildren?

272. SOPHIE POV IRVING.

SOPHIE

Oh, Irving, appreciate the warmth of family.

IRVING

Sophie, what’s the matter? Why don’t...

273. Two-shot favoring SOPHIE.

SOPHIE

(Closing the door.) Call them long distance, Irving. Charge it to my phone.

274. Two-shot favoring PLUTO.

PLUTO

You know, I think the place looks one hundred percent better like this.

SOPHIE

(Going back to the TV.) So do I. I got rid of everything. You should have seen me shlepping garbage out of here.

PLUTO

I could have done all that with a snap of my fingers.

SOPHIE

Yeah, but you weren’t here. And I couldn’t summon you, because that lamp was one of the first things to go.

PLUTO

(Reflectively.) I never liked it

SOPHIE

Neither did I. (Beat.)

275. Close-up SOPHIE.

SOPHIE

Pluto? I think you’re sweet to suggest that I give up the whole thing. But I can’t quit now. I have to make another stab at it.

276. Two-shot.

PLUTO

Even if it costs you your soul?

SOPHIE

Even if it costs me my soul.

PLUTO

Anything special in mind?

SOPHIE

Uh-huh. I want the Boss.

PLUTO

(Uncertain.) The Boss?

SOPHIE

The Man Downstairs. The Evil One. Satan, Mephistopheles, whatever you call him.

PLUTO

I generally call him Sir. But—

277. SOPHIE POV PLUTO. (Medium with a slow zoom to end the shot tight on her face at the end of the dialogue in the scene.)

SOPHIE

You promised me, Pluto. You said anyone in Hell. And I think that’s still his address.

PLUTO

Yes, but—

SOPHIE

Then that’s what I want.

PLUTO

Sophie, honey, are you absolutely sure? (Close on her face for a beat, then she nods yes.)

278. A void. There is a bed and that’s all. It is bathed in soft red light There is smoke coming up from the sides. A door opens and shuts with a heavy resounding, echoing sound. Footsteps. SOPHIE is waiting on the bed. We never see Satan... which saves hiring anybody to play him. We get SOPHIE’S awe at the sight of him. Everything is found out through SOPHIE’S reaction. The whole scene is done through a series of dissolving images and a really worked over, dubbed, echoed, and redubbed and reechoed sound track. The whole sequence lasts about two minutes. SOPHIE says or mouths or breathes “Oh, oh, oh,” then later as she really gets into it “Yes, yes, yes.” She says “God” about a hundred times. Then “Love” five times. And then in one shot she has a look of absolutely beatific angelic beauty on her face. She has had an orgasm, or is having one, and doesn’t make a sound except to breathe heavily. At this moment, in this shot, the light starts to yellow up and a glow appears around SOPHIE’S head which is in close-up. We begin a pullback to show that she is in a white robe, with wings, halo, harp, the whole number. She is on a cloud, or a damn good facsimile of one, as good as the budget will allow. Probably use dry ice on the same set as the devil’s bed. She plays the song and softly sings the music to “HE NEVER TOUCHED MY HEART.”

MADGE’S VOICE

(Telephone.) Never lost one before, huh?

PLUTO’S VOICE

(Telephone.) Never.

MADGE’S VOICE

It happens every once in a while.

PLUTO’S VOICE

He touched her heart.

MADGE’S VOICE

And that was what she always wanted. I’ll tell you something — she was a bad candidate for us from the beginning. She wasn’t really hunting the big O.

PLUTO’S VOICE

She sure talked a good game.

MADGE’S VOICE

That was all on the surface. She was tough and brassy and full of piss and vinegar but she was no sinner. It took the Evil One to give her an orgasm, and she turned him around and made a love experience out of it.