Crimes of the Future (2022) - full transcript

[ELECTRICAL ARCING;
ZAPPING]

[MECHANICAL SWITCH
THUMP]

[BUZZING]

[GENTLE
RHYTHMIC GUITAR]

[VOCALIZING]

[LOW RUMBLE]

[FILM PROJECTOR
WHIRRING]

[OPENING
ORCHESTRAL THEME]

[LAPPING WAVES]

[DIGGING IN
ROCKY SHORE]

[MUSIC BECOMES
MORE DRAMATIC]



[SPOON CLINKING
ON ROCK]

[SCORE
FADES OUT]

Brecken...

I don't want you eating
anything you find in there,

you understand me?

I don't care what it is.

Don't care what it is.

[CICADAS CHIRRING]

[SURF HITTING SHORE
IN DISTANCE]

[TOOTHBRUSH
INTO HOLDER]

[CRUNCHING]

[POIGNANT SCORE]

[CRUNCHING CONTINUES]

[BED CREAKING]



[EMOTIONAL BREATHING]

[SCORE FADES OUT]

[CHAIR CREAKS]

[SOFT FOOTFALLS]

[EDGY SCORE]

Ah...

[MUFFLED GRUNTS]

Mum! Mum!

- No! No!
- [LEGS THRASHING]

[MUFFLED SHRIEKS]

No!
No, no!

[THRASHING STOPS]

[DJUNA
BREATHES HARD]

[TREMULOUS BREATHING]

[SCORE
FADES OUT]

[RINGING]

[RINGING]

[POIGNANT SCORE]

[RINGING]

[CONNECTING BEEPS]

Yes?

Yes, it's still Djuna.

Now you've confirmed
the phone number.

I want you to tell Lang
that if he's interested

in picking up the corpse
of that creature

he calls his son...

Yes, yes, I mean
the Brecken thing.

So, you tell him to come
to the address I gave you.

It will be here, and I won't be.

[STATIC]

[CLICK]

[PHONE CLATTERS
TO SHELF]

[EMOTIONAL SCORE]

[SHARP
NASAL EXHALES]

[SOBBING]

[SNIFFLES]

[SOBBING]

[GENTLE SURF]

[SCORE FADES OUT]

[FOOTFALLS
ON ROCKS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

[LANG DOTRICE EXHALES]

[MOVING SCORE]

[DEEP INHALE;
EXHALE]

[SOBBING]

Oh, my boy, boy, boy.

My boy.
Oh, my boy.

[DRAMATIC SCORE]

[RUMBLING]

[GUTTURAL NOISES]

[GAG]

[GROANING]

[MOANING]

[GASP]

[LOW THRUMMING]

Saul.

Saul, darling,

can you wake up?

Who's here?

It's just me.

It's Caprice.

Did you sleep?

[SIGH]

I think this...

bed

needs new software.

[PAINED BREATHING]

It's not anticipating
my pain anymore.

[SHARP GASPS;
BREATHING]

It's not turning me properly.

Yes, I heard you.

- A sleepless night.
- [TENSER GAGGING]

I will call
LifeFormWare right away.

They're usually very responsive.

[SHARP EXHALE]

What else?
What else?

The tests cooked all night
and were ready this morning.

There is a new hormone
in your bloodstream.

Ah...

Great.

It's about time.

I thought I was all tapped out.

[INHALE]
[SIGH]

Dried up.

You always think that,
and you're always wrong.

One day, I'll be right.

Not today.

[DEEP RUMBLING]

[SHARP EXHALE]

Not today.

[SAUL AND CAPRICE
LAUGH]

It's still before breakfast.

[WHIRRING;
CLICKING]

What do you see?

I can feel you pulling things
around in there.

It seems to be
some small sort of, uh,

endocrine gland,

about the size
of an adrenal gland.

Small.

That's disappointing.
It's not very dramatic.

[GROANS]

It's a brand new organ

Never before seen.

Yeah.

And it's functioning.

[SAUL GROANS]

Can you feel it?

That new hormone?

Yeah.

Oh, LifeFormWare.

[DEEP EXHALE]

LifeFormWare?

Yeah.

The pain is different.

That's probably why my bed's
computer's having trouble.

[GROANS]

This new organ, it's, uh,

it's shifting my pain centres.

For better or worse?

So far, just different.

[SIGHING]

How's the artwork progressing?

It's a slippery surface.

Hard to be precise with the ink.

Huh...

Why not do something
that really looks like a tattoo?

A heart,

an anchor,

"Mother"?

[LAUGHING]

That would be playful.

But the Registry insists on

"uniquely
self-referential."

Ah, the Registry.

Of course.

[SIGH]

[PLACID SCORE]

[SPOON CLINKING
ON PLATE]

[NASAL EXHALE]

[GAGGING]

[CHAIR THRUMMING]

[GAGGING]

[CHAIR CREAKING]

[GRUNT]

[GRUNT]

[GAGGING]

[GROANS]

[DRAMATIC SCORE]

[GAGGING
CONTINUES]

[TENSER SIGHS]

[COUGHING]

[COUGH]

[MOANING]

[WRAPPER CRINKLING]

[KNOCKING]

[TENSER GRUNTS]
[APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS]

Saul Tenser.

Caprice.

Oh, my God.

So you are.

Welcome.

I'm Wippet, by the way.

[DOOR CREAKS]

Wow, um...

- [DOOR CLOSES]
- This is a real treat

and a privilege for us,
isn't it, Timlin?

That's Timlin.

This isn't very grand, is it,
but this is

the National Organ Registry
nonetheless, and

we're fully equipped,
aren't we, Timlin?

Um, it's all secret stuff now

because we're part of
the NVU of Justice,

but we'll be ready
to break out and go public

when the time inevitably comes.

NVU?

New Vice Unit.

No crime like the present.

[SAUL LAUGHS]

Sorry, we're a little
confused about procedure.

This is our first time.

Hm.

But you understand the necessity
of organ registration

from a security standpoint?

We understand

human bodies are changing.

[CLEARS THROAT]

I know this quite well.

Um...

And, apparently,
this is of some concern

to the governments of the world.

Human bodies, yes.

"Human" is the operative word.

Human evolution

is the concern.

That it's going wrong.

[SAUL
CLEARS THROAT]

That it's...

uncontrolled, it's...

insurrectional.

It might lead us to a bad place.

Look what's happened to the
pain thresholds, for instance.

The world is a
much more dangerous place

now that p-p-pain
has all but disappeared.

What good is it
that only a lucky handful of us

experience pain in our sleep?

Pain has a function.

It is a warning system
that we don't have anymore,

and how did this happen,
what does this mean?

Or, or what about infections?

Infections?
What happened to them?

Nobody washes
their hands anymore.

What is it-
what is that new, uh, fad,

uh, what do they call it?
Desktop surgery?

In public!

It's repulsive.

- [CLEARS THROAT]
- Um...

Our records indicate
that you've been producing

random and novel bodily organs
for some years,

but that you've had them

consistently removed.

Who wouldn't?

[WIPPET SCOFFS]

You'd be surprised.

We would be surprised.

They're basically tumours,
right?

Who would want to keep them?

They could kill you.

[TENSER GROANS]

What is the relationship
between you two?

I remove these tumours
as part of our performance.

We are performance artists.

We perform together.

Hm.

And you're qualified
to perform surgery?

Well, as Mr. Wippet
was saying,

everybody's qualified
to perform surgery these days.

[WIPPET CHUCKLES]

If consent is legally given,

there is really no-
no issue there.

Hm.

I was speaking of your
professional relationship.

You wouldn't want to kill
your performance partner,

would you?

You never know.

There's a lot of improvisation
in our shows.

Stop it.

Hm.

We met when Saul
was cut up on duty.

I was a trauma surgeon
at First General.

We unleashed things
in each other.

We both changed,

left our professions.

And now we are what we are.

Oh.

You're stars,
that's what you are.

Gosh, everyone wants to be
a performance artist these days.

- It's all the rage, but...
- [INHALES]

not everyone can do it.

Well, then...

Registration?

[GENTLE SCORE]

[CLICKING]

[GEARS CLACKING]

[SNORING]

Oh, my.

Oh, it is so beautiful!

I can't quite see it
from my angle.

Can you pick it up
from where you are?

Oh, yes.
It's-it's very clear.

Oh, gosh!

It is a gorgeous,

I might even say,
sensual example

of the registration
tatooist's art.

Why don't you tell us
what a registration tattoo is?

Well, um...

...we here at the
National Organ Registry

have just instituted
a new policy

of tattooing novel organs,

or idiopathic organs, that is,

new organs whose function
is unknown,

so that they can be registered

and kept track of.

[MOAN]

Um, our fear is...

that some of these neo-organs

might establish themselves
genetically,

and then be passed down
from parents to children,

who would then no longer be,

strictly speaking, human.

At least, in the
classical sense.

Our concept
of the registration tattoo

was largely inspired by
the performance art

[SIGH]

Of Saul Tenser.

Oh, I'm so sorry, but it's
forbidden to record in here.

Oh, right, right.
She's right.

I was thinking we could use it
for our performance.

We record
the most intimate things.

I'm sorry, but it is illegal.

This department
does not yet exist.

Right, if it doesn't exist,

then, I guess, it's impossible
to make a recording.

- Sorry.
- [LAUGHS]

Too bad.

[WIPPET SIGHS]

[EXHALES]

[COMPRESSORS
HUMMING]

I don't think you should have
invited those two creeps

from the registry to our show.

- Why not?
- [CLEARS THROAT]

Why not get 'em on our side?

I don't trust them.

The woman, Timlin,

she's, uh...

especially creepy.

Hm.

I thought she was
rather attractive.

In a...

bureaucratic way.

Hm.

The LifeFormWare technicians
are here.

They need to see you
in your bed.

[Groans]

I'm a little upset
about the tattoo.

Oh?

[CLEARS HIS THROAT]

Rambunctious.

That's what I'd call it.

That's a technical term?

TENSER.;
Uh.

[SIGH]

It takes over the form,

the shape of the organ itself.

It really, in a sense,
dominates it,

reshapes it.

It's not just parasitic,

although I suppose,
in a sense, it is that too.

It seems to take meaning

[CLEARS THROAT]

Away from the organ.

Takes the process of meaning

for itself,

so to speak.

You'd really better
get into bed.

There, there.

You'll be comfortable
again soon.

OrchidBed is our
top of the line bed.

Once we correct the misalignment

caused by your...

hormonal imbalance,

[SQUELCHING]

You'll be floating.

- [DEEP RUMBLING]
- Huh.

Isn't that right, Berst?

Uh-uh.

Yeah, these things are
basically bulletproof.

This bed loves your body,
Mr. Tenser.

It is so flexible,

so attuned to every shift
of your pain centres,

it's a beautiful thing
to behold.

[TENSER MOANS]

I see you actually have
several of our units here,

- don't you?
- Mm-hm.

The OrchidBed Bed,
the Break Faster Chair,

that'll probably need
some adjustment as well.

We can...

download your
OrchidBed co-ordinates

into the Break Faster,
tweak the EatWare parameters,

and we should be very close.

[PAPERS CRINKLING]

Oh, my God.

Router.

What is it?

Mr. Tenser
has a Sark unit here.

[Gasp]

[FAST FOOTSTEPS]

[SIGH]

Yes.

He really does.

[GENTLE SCORE]

The Sark autopsy module
was one of the best units

we ever made.
It's gorgeous.

They're legendary.

So complex.

So subtle.

Do you ever work
on one of these?

They stopped making them
before our time.

I've never seen one
in the flesh before.

- [SCOFFS]
- They're legendary.

What do you use it for?

You're not in the
autopsy business, are you?

It's my paint brush.

[INDUSTRIAL SCORE]

[CLICKS]

[GEARS WHIRRING]

[MECHANICAL WHIRRING
AND GRINDING]

[INHALE]

[WHIRRING]

[SQUELCHING]

[CRINKLING]

[SQUELCHING]

[CHIRPING]

[AUDIENCE GASPS]

[HIGH-PITCHED
WHINE]

[INDUSTRIAL MUSIC
ENDS]

[MULTIPLE
INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]

[TENSER
SPEAKS QUIETLY]

[GLASSWARE CLINKING]

Hm.

Mm, oh, my God,
look at this thing.

No, you can't.

[GLASSES CLINK]

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

It's not that small.

Quite big, actually.

Hm.

Do you mind if I ask you
something intimate?

Hi.

No, go ahead.

That surgery is sex, isn't it?

Is it?

Hm.

You know it is.

Surgery is the new sex.

Hm.

Does there have to be new sex?

Yes.

Yes, it's time.

When I was watching
Caprice cut into you,

I wanted...

Yes?

I wanted you
to be cutting into me.

That's when I knew.

Hm.

- [GLASS DOWN]
- Hm?

What was that all about?

Just another epiphany.

Art triumphs once again.

Hm.

His body needs are subtle and
they're constantly shifting.

We feel,

Danny Router and I do,
that the Tenser account

will force
our entire organization

into new,
exhilarating territory.

Saul Tenser is...

an artist
of the inner landscape.

Creation of art
is often associated with pain,

and pain, as we know,
is always associated with sleep.

We at LifeFormWare specialize in

manipulating

and modulating
the pain of artists,

and, to us,

Saul Tenser
is the greatest challenge,

so intimate and involving
in his art,

and the nature of his pain.

A good night's sleep is a...

hard thing to define
when you're an artist

and you seek pain.

[TENSE SCORE]

[GROANS]

[TENSE SCORE
ENDS]

[APPROACHING
FOOTSTEPS]

[APPROACHING
FOOTSTEPS]

Hm.

Sit down.

I'm Detective Cope.

I'm with New Vice.

And you are?

- Wippet.
- Timlin.

Hm, yes, good.

Have you had recent dealings
with the performance artist,

Saul Tenser?

Yes.

And you have a portfolio
of all the neo-organs

which he has

developed and removed?

He donated it to us.

[INHALES]

He was the first
to undertake the logging,

the archiving,

of his inner creations.

We call it the
Tenser Organography.

For him, it was an art thing,

an artist wanting
a systematized record

of his art.

But, for us, it triggered

an awareness of the flow,
the significance

of these spontaneous growths

which many people
were experiencing in secret.

So, now, we have
actually required

the legal registering
of these growths.

The registering
of a genuine, new...

Saul Tenser internal organ...

It's like discovering
a new species of animal.

Well,

more like discovering
a new Picasso.

How can a tumorous growth
be considered art?

Where is the emotional shaping,

the philosophical understanding,

which is basic to all art?

[TIMLIN SCOFFS]
[WIPPET SIGHS]

[SCOFFS AGAIN]

Look...

I have a lump on my abdomen.

You see it?

Picasso?

Duchamp?

Francis Bacon, perhaps?

Am I an artist?

[CLEARS THROAT]

[INHALE]

He takes the rebellion
of his own body

and seizes control of it.

Shapes it,

tattoos it, displays it,

creates theatre out of it.

It has meaning,
very potent meaning, and...

many, many people respond to it.

- [LAUGHS]
- Yes.

Tattoos it?

Here we go.

Hm.

You see?

See, right from the beginning,

after he met Caprice,

all his neo-organs were tattooed

while they were still
inside his body.

Caprice is his lover?

Caprice is
his performance partner.

She does the tattoos.

And the surgery.

Hm.

[TIMLIN INHALES SHARPLY
THROUGH HER NOSE]

[TIMLIN SIGHS]

Looks to me as though
Caprice is the artist.

Tenser is just
a glorified organ donor.

[WIPPET LAUGHS]

Well, there are
the performances.

And, then-then,
there is the question of will.

Will?

Yes.

We believe,
that on a certain level,

perhaps a subconscious one,

Saul Tenser
wills these new organs to grow.

So...

[COPE SIGHS]

Hm, you really ought to get that
lump on your abdomen looked at.

[GROAN]

[ROLLING DOOR
OPENING]

[CART ROLLING
ACROSS FLOOR]

[TENSER MOANS]

[CHAIR SLIDING
ON FLOOR]

[CLATTERING]

[FOOTSTEPS]

[TENSER MOANS]

Saul?

Saul, darling, can you wake up?

[SOFT MOAN]

Your bed says that you're
working on something new.

Can that be right?

So soon?

The bed is very quiet.

The bed is never wrong.

[SIGH]

Just ask our friends
at LifeFormWare.

[MOANS]

Is this something
we should worry about?

The interval between growths
seems to be closing up.

I'm feeling very creative.

I guess.

We'll just have to
start cutting faster.

[TENSE SCORE]

[Squelching]

It is time to stop seeing.

It is time to stop speaking.

It is time

to listen.

[LOUD
HOUSE MUSIC]

I don't like the ears.

What?

The ears.

They're cute,
they're striking, but

a thousand ears
is not good design.

Surround sound?

The extra ears don't even work.

They're just for show.

How do you know?

I'm Adrienne Berceau.

I'm Klinek's
Biomorphology Coordinator.

Don't tell him I said this,
but he's better with the dancing

than he is
with the conceptual art.

Are you working
on anything new, Mr. Tenser?

I never really know

when I'm
working on something new.

[CLEARS THROAT]

It doesn't
seem to be my decision.

What if it is?

If it is?

The creation of inner beauty
cannot be an accident.

Forgive me
for quoting you and your show.

Have you heard of
Dr. Nasatir?

No.

You should pay him a visit.

Inner beauty is his specialty,

as it is yours.

I've booked you an appointment.

Go to the address written here.

A consultation
about a medical problem?

A consultation about
a political problem.

[SLOW FOOTSTEPS]

[WOMAN MOANS]

[TENSER CLEARS THROAT]

[GROANS]

I have a concept for you.

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah.

It came to me when I saw you

use a Sark unit
as part of your show.

The Sark was originally
an autopsy module.

Did you know that?

I knew that.

Have you ever thought about
using it for a real autopsy?

As part of your show?

Perform an autopsy?

On a corpse.
Mm-hm.

I have a corpse for you.

It's a very special corpse.

You could do a live autopsy
on a dead body.

And there would be surprises.
I can guarantee a few surprises.

What corpse
are you talking about?

My son.

Eight years old.

[TENSER
CLEARS HIS THROAT]

Why is he a corpse?

His mother murdered him.
Wouldn't that be...

good raw material
for a performance?

You have the body of your son?

Yes, of course I have
the body of my son.

He's my son.

Wow.

Yeah, I know.

I mean, how radical are you?

Hm?

Are you afraid of
a little emotion?

[TENSER COUGHS]

I'm afraid of everything.

[DOTRICE SCOFFS]

[TENSER COUGHS]

[GAGS]

[COUGHS]

[GROANS]

The throat thing

is very severe

today.

I can't open it.

What's going on?

I am not sure.

You were out
for a very long time yesterday.

Yeah.

It's not my allergies.

In fact,

they're not bothering me.

- [COUGHS]
- It's strange.

Are you in discomfort?

No, it's a...

compelling fullness.

Not a completely bad feeling.

- At least not...
- [SWALLOWS HARD]

uninteresting.

[SIGHS]

I went to see the Klinek.

How was it?

- [EXHALES]
- The usual.

[GAGS]

- [EXHALES]
- It was packed.

Jealous?

Of course.

- But that's not it.
- [CLEARS THROAT]

I met this guy...

[GAGS]

- On the street.
- [CLEARS THROAT]

He had an idea

for a show.

[GENTLE SCORE]

[CLICKING;
BEEPING]

So,

I'm the boy's corpse.

We'll have to modify the Sark.

Hm.

Convert it back
into an autopsy module.

[TENSER EXHALES]

I don't know where the law is

on acts degrading
to human remains.

[WHIRRING]

We'll have to be outrageous
to make it worthwhile.

We have to go deep.

[EXHALE]

[CAPRICE MOANS]

[WHIRRING]

[CAPRICE MOANS]

I'm not sure how we'd play
the inner beauty angle.

This guy, Dotrice,
he said there'd be surprises...

- [GASP]
- Oops.

- Oh.
- Sorry.

That was the machinery talking.

That was you talking.

Keep going.

[CAPRICE
SIGHS DEEPLY]

Really?

So far...

so good.

[CAPRICE EXHALES]

[MACHINERY CHIRPING]

Oh...

[CAPRICE MOANS]

Oh...

Oh!
Oh...

[EXHALING]

You could be on the inside
for the next show.

Maybe.

But maybe

this is just for us.

[CONTROLLER CLICKS,
CHIRPS]

[MACHINERY
WHIRRING]

[RAPID BEEPING]

[CHIRPING]

[WHIRRING]

[SQUELCHING]

[WIND BLOWING;
SURF IN DISTANCE]

[APPROACHING
FOOTSTEPS]

How are you feeling?

What do you mean?

Got anything cooking in there?

Huh.

Your imagination's
working overtime.

I just got to see
your portfolio.

You are very prolific.

I had no idea.

It must be exhausting, uh?

I could live without it.

Listen, illuminate me.

Why is Saul Tenser
doing undercover?

I mean, you seem to be
pretty deep

into that body-art stuff.

Well...

What I'm saying with that
body-art stuff

is that I don't like
what's happening with the body.

In particular,
what's happening with my body,

which is why
I keep cutting it up.

Your partner, Caprice,

she's in the dark about this?

The under the covers?

Yeah.

- Totally?
- Yeah.

She can't read your insides?

There aren't any traces there
that say undercover stoolie?

You really are imaginative.

What have you got for me?

Dr. Nasatir.

Cosmetic surgery.

Someone contacted me
at the Klinek show.

[CLEARS THROAT]

I heard it was a good show.

Very disturbing.
Multiple ears.

Wow.

Got to be good.

It was okay.

If you like escapist propaganda.

This someone

talked to me about

my take on inner beauty.

Said I really should consult
with a doctor.

Dr. Nasatir.

Inner beauty, huh?

That's right up your alley.

Guess that's why
she was talking to me.

Okay, good.

Follow it up.

Find out what it means.

What else?

Why is your body-crime unit
called New Vice?

I don't get the vice part.

Somebody in the Bureau
thought it was sexier than

Evolutionary Derangement.

Sexier means easier funding.

Anything else?

Yeah.

You have a woman named
Djuna Dotrice in the Metro Pen.

We have?

New Vice has her?

Probably just Old Homicide.
She's in for murder.

Murdered her own kid.

Yeah.

Well?

I need to talk to her.

[METAL SCRAPING]

[GENTLE SCORE]

The Sark was originally

a coroners' autopsy sarcophagus.

When it went out of style
in the medical profession,

it took on new life as

artists' supplies.

I've heard
that some of the Sarks

that were modified
for performance surgery

have been really brutally
hacked around,

but this one was
converted by someone

with a very delicate touch.

It's in beautiful shape.

[WHIRRING]

[CLICKING]

Where's your partner?

Saul likes me
to do the techno dog work.

Keeps me in touch with my roots.

What happened to him?

The body-growth thing.

Is there a name for it?

Accelerated Evolution Syndrome.

Your body gets very inventive

and throws a lot
of new stuff at you.

I guess it wants to see
what sticks

for the next generation.

Yeah, but, uh...

Tenser's not letting
anything stick, is he?

I mean...

not if he's
getting rid of it all.

The new, improved body parts?

It's pathological.

It's not healthy.

It's a breakdown of the system.

An organism needs organisation.

Otherwise, it's just
designer cancer.

Hey, Caprice.

Check us out!

[LAUGHS]

Whaddya think?

Do we got a future
in performance here?

[LAUGHING]

Definitely.

[MODERATE SCORE]

[SCORE MODULATES
DARKER]

[COUGHING]

[COUGHING
CONTINUES]

[GROANS]

Saul Tenser.

Come on in.

[CLEARING THROAT]

This

is very exciting.

Is it?

Seeing you here,

is like a lightning bolt
from the blue.

It strikes you very hard
and very convincingly.

Let me take your coat.

Uh, I prefer to keep it on.

I get cold.

If you don't mind staining.

Please, just hop up on there
and expose your abdomen.

[CLICKING;
DYNAMO SPINS UP]

[CLEARS THROAT]

Tell me about
the lightning bolt.

Saul Tenser
and the Inner Beauties.

It's a marriage made in heaven.

Inner Beauties.

[EXCITED BREATHING]

I propose

to install the rip-lock

here.

This will give you
maximum access.

[CLEARING THROAT]

Access to what?

I believe I'm here
to discuss my political problem.

I wasn't aware you had one.

I wasn't either,

but Adrienne Berceau
seems to think I do.

Oh, Adrienne.

She's so dramatic.

Listen...

Me, I'm just a mechanic.

I install doors and windows
into the future.

Politics will come soon,

when you're registered.

Registered?

For what?

He doesn't even know.

For the Inner Beauty Pageant.

I'm sure you'll be a contender.

[TENSER COUGHING]

- Hi.
- Hi.

How's the Sark coming along?

Our LifeFormWare friends
are very...

[CHUCKLES]

How can I put it?

Very playful.

Huh.

Is that a good thing?

They love it to death,
that piece of machinery.

They literally salivate on it.

They won't hurt it.

Huh.

Wow.

And what's this?

Cut yourself shaving?

[TENSER CHUCKLES]

[COUGHS]

I seem to be a contestant

in the Inner Beauty Pageant.

It's very hush-hush.

Might not be quite legal.

The things you drag home.

Hm.

I'm entering in the category

of Best Original Organ
With No Known Function.

This is like a raincoat
for internal organ flashers.

[CHUCKLES]

Wow.

A new world opens up.

Hm.

Wait a minute.

Have we just been made, um...

obsolete?

No, of course not.

It's just a functional thing.

[SNIFFLES]

It's a zippered fly;

it's not art, It's not sensual.

Besides,

remember what
our Registry friend said:

sex is surgery.

A zipper can't replace our Sark.

I think she said, uh...

"Surgery is
the new sex."

Besides,

- zippers...
- [ZIPPING]

- [GENTLE SCORE]
- have their own

sex appeal.

[TENSER MOANS]

[GASPS]

[SQUELCHING]

[CAPRICE MOANS]
[TENSER SIGHS]

Careful...

don't spill.

[GROANING]

[SCORE
FADES OUT]

[FLIES BUZZING]

He ate a plastic
wastepaper basket.

What would you do?

I wouldn't kill him.

A little kid, my own son.

But he wouldn't be your own son.

He wouldn't even be
a little kid.

What would he be?

A creature.

A thing.

A thing my husband invented
to torment me.

A thing that can eat
a plastic wastepaper basket.

Eat it and enjoy it.

And eat nothing but plastic
and weird synthetic stuff.

[LAUGHS]

He would take that watch
and he'd have it for lunch.

[LAUGHS]

He could digest plastic?

He had this

weird,

thick white drool

that he'd sometimes
slurp over everything.

It was like acid.

It'd dissolve
any kind of plasticky stuff.

It would sting
if you got it on your skin.

Didn't bother him, though.

That lizard.

[CLEARS THROAT]

Your husband is Lang Dotrice.

Was.

Was my husband.
I've disowned him - fuck him.

He invented your son?

Yeah.

That's how I think of it.

And here's another thing
I think of:

the thought of that slimy worm

growing in me
still makes me sick.

The police tell me

they haven't found
your son, Brecken.

I get the feeling

they don't think
you really killed him.

I confess

they don't believe me.

The perfect crime.

[GROANS]

You confessed?

Yeah.

Why?

I'm guilty.

Where's the body?

Lang has it
unless he's thrown it away.

How'd he get it?

I left it for him.

My little divorce present.

What is Lang
going to do with the body?

Maybe him and his cannibal
friends are going to eat it.

Who the fuck knows?
Who the fuck cares?

His friends are cannibals?

Um-hm.

If you're a Barbie Doll,

then they're cannibals.

If the police
found Brecken's body

and did an autopsy,

what do you think
they'd find inside it?

Outer space.

[FOOTSTEPS RECEDING]

[CICADAS CHIRRING]

[BANGING
ON METAL DOOR]

[DOOR MECHANISM CLACKING,
SLIDING OPEN]

- Tarr.
- Lang.

Everybody's here.

Good.

[INDISTINCT
CONVERSATIONS]

Our supply lines
are up and running again,

so we're in very good shape.

Production will soon
be back to maximum.

[THUD]
[BUZZER]

[GEARS
RATCHETING]

[PLASTIC
CRINKLES]

Tarr, if we have to
move the commune,

I mean, the whole operation,
the assembly line, everything...

Sit.

How quickly can it be?

You're expecting problems?

[LAUGHS]

I'm going ahead
with the Brecken autopsy.

Finally, what we're doing
is going to be very public

and it's going to resonate.

[DRAMATIC
SCORE]

[CAMERA SHUTTERS
CLICKING]

[RASPING]

[HEAVY BREATHING]

Oh...

[SCORE
FADES OUT]

[INDISTINCT
CONVERSATIONS]

[WOMAN LAUGHING]

[GLASSWARE CLINKING]

Oh.

Where's
Mr. Tenser?

- He's doing some research.
- Ah.

Where's your friend, Timlin?

Oh, she was, uh, intimidated.

By whom?

Well, we've been

forbidden to mingle.

It's now part of
the job description.

I'm risking my career
just being here,

but, uh...

I can't stay away.

I've got the fever.

Forgive me.

I've got to talk to her
before she goes.

Odile.

Caprice.

Oh, you have no idea
how hard it's been for me

to find plastic surgeons
who understand

that I do not wish
to be made more beautiful.

Surgeons tend to be
very focussed

and unimaginative.

It's considered a strength.

I was a surgeon myself.

Not cosmetic surgery, though.

- [SIGHS]
- Trauma.

Trauma.

But that's very um...

provocative.

I enjoy trauma.

What I do to myself
is very traumatic.

Is it?

You seem so peaceful, so...

beatific while your surgery's
going on.

Watching you suddenly...

filled me with the desire
to cut my face open.

[SIGH]

It's a feeling that shocked me.

A desire to be open

is often the beginning
of something exciting...

[CAPRICE
BREATHES DEEPLY]

...new.

[EXHALES]

Perhaps you would
like to join me and the troupe

later this evening,

at the hotel?

[CLEARS THROAT]

A desire to be open?

Metaphorically.

Emotionally.

Artistically.

You want to take over
the Brecken show.

I want to perform the autopsy.

I want to perform.

[TENSER
CLEARS THROAT]

Well, this is new.

Yes, it is.

[SIGHS]

Maybe...

you were too shy before.

I'm not too shy now.

Will you have something new
for the show?

We could definitely do work
in a Tenser extraction.

Double Autopsy.

Hm.

I do have something cooking.

[SIGHS]

Maybe a few things.

But I'm happy to let them
stay inside for now.

That might not be healthy.

We can extract in private,

if it's a problem.

Doesn't have to be
a performance.

Don't let it go too long.

[COUGHS;
CLEARS THROAT]

[CHAIR CREAKS]

[SIGHS]

How was Odile's show?

It was...

- Brilliant.
- [CHUCKLES THROUGH NOSE]

She's exhilarating.

Yeah.

She says hello.

Hello.

I want to do more than perform.

I want to construct.

I want to construct
the Brecken show.

It already has
an innate structure.

[CLEARS THROAT]

A murdered boy.

A very strange boy.

A public autopsy, some...

surprises.

I want to work with it.

It's juicy with meaning.

[WIPPET INHALES,
EXHALES]

Saul Tenser.

[CHUCKLES]

Well, then,

come on in.

Hm.

[DOOR LATCH
ENGAGES]

Just...

[TENSER CLEARS
HIS THROAT]

What's up?

Oh, well...

I just want your advice
as a neo-organ generator.

I...

- just...
- [LAUGHS]

Uh...

actually, I wanted
to show you our safe room.

Can I?

[TENSER CLEARS
HIS THROAT]

Yes...

So, this is where
we archive our more

provocative material in here.

I thought
it was all provocative.

[WIPPET SCOFFS]

You,

- you provoke us.
- [LAUGHS]

- Uh...
- [TENSER CLEARS THROAT]

You, you provoke me.

I'm...

I'm just so glad
you're with us, you know.

It makes such emotional sense.

Who's us?

It's me, I'm...

I'm the one.

I am the Registrar
for the Inner Beauty Pageant.

- [LAUGHS]
- Sh, don't tell.

Registration

seems to be your strong suit.

I-I think you have

a very good chance
of winning your category.

In fact, if I were you,
I'd go for Best in Show.

I'm not sure I'll have
anything to show.

Might have to fake it.

Speaking of faking it,

I said it makes emotional sense
for you to be with

the Inner Beauties,
and it does, but...

you know,

doesn't make logical sense.

- No?
- No.

Because the Inner Beauty
Pageant is all about acceptance.

It's about acknowledgment,
aesthetic empowerment,

And you, Saul Tenser,

you're all about anger,
and rebellion, and...

rejection by scalpel.

[TENSER GROANS]

[LONG SIGH]

This has been a mistake,
hasn't it?

No.

No, you're right.
I'd be a fish out of water

at your little secret event.

But, no, no, no.

We want you,
we need you, we-we...

It'll all fall apart
without you!

What if I won
for best original organ

and then I ripped it out
in public at my next show?

Wouldn't that
humiliate your group?

[MUMBLES]

It's star power.
We'll-we'll-we'll cover it.

We'll, we'll settle.

We'll give you whatever you want

and maybe, just maybe,
you'll begin to see it our way.

[LAUGHS]

- Uh...
- [CLEARS THROAT]

- So...
- [CLEARS THROAT]

So, okay...

we rewind.

- I, uh...
- [CLEARS THROAT]

I'm here to register
for the Inner Beauty Pageant.

- Mr. Tenser?
- Ah! Oh.

- Saul...
- It's you.

[CLEARS THROAT]

Could you come into my office?

[SHUTS DOOR]

[TIMLIN SIGHS]

You were just with
Mr. Wippet.

I was.

I'm very worried about him.

He seemed to be in fine form.

Oh, no, it's a
very dangerous form to be in.

[TREMULOUS INHALE]

I...

I don't understand.

It's...

in our line of work,
very easy to be dazzled

by the glamour
of the performance world,

the charismatic people we meet,

like you.

TENSER:
Mm.

I see.

Do you?

[CLEARS THROAT]

Maybe not.
Tell me.

[CHUCKLES]

Well, this is our world.

This office, this building.

From the centre of it,

deep,

deep within it,

this beautiful white light
emanates outward.

That light is you,

what you create,

and those like you.

Mm...

It's hard-it's hard for us, drab

little bureaucratic insects
that we are,

not to be drawn into your
powerful gravitational field.

Hurtling towards you,

plunging into your black hole
that pulls all light into it.

[DEEP INHALE]

We want to follow that light,

fuse with that light.

Is...

Is Wippet doing some fusing,

- [CLEARS THROAT]
- do you think?

Oh...

He's-he is drawn
to inner beauty.

Is he playing games
with subversive groups?

Is that-is that what you mean?

[INHALES]

I...

I am very,
very fond of him, but...

Yes, I think I might have to
actually turn him in.

No, don't-don't-don't do that.

- Uh...
- [ECHOEY CLATTERING IN HALLWAY]

How safe is this room?

Oh, it's...

It's totally safe.

You can be open with me.

Yeah, open.

Um...

Have you run across
a neo-organ...

or rather, a system

of neo-organs,

that had a digestive function?

A system that can digest
synthetics, plastics...

that sort of thing?

No.

No, but that sounds interesting.

We've only come across
single organ growths here,

like yours.

Of course, nobody knows
what would happen

if those growths
were allowed to accumulate.

Do you think they could ev...

Um, I almost

said evolve,

but I didn't.
Hah.

Um...

Do you think they could
actually develop into...

a system of organs?

Like a...

circulatory system,

nervous system, um...

lymphatic...?

You know a lot
about human physiology.

Yeah.

- Hm.
- [CLEARS THROAT]

Do you think you would ever

let me be a part of your show?

Uh...

Because I would love to...

find myself
in that Sark module with...

you at the controls.

That would, that would

definitely fall into
the category of New Vice.

Mm...

Well, that is where I live.

[QUIET SCORE]

- [INHALES]
- Hm.

Ah.

[TIMLIN MOANING]

[SHARP EXHALE]

[TENSER MOANS]

[TENSER MOANS]
[TIMLIN SIGHS]

Oh...
Uh...

[STACCATO CLEARING
OF THROAT]

- I'm sorry.
- No.

I'm just not very good
at the old sex.

[WIND BLOWING]

[CRICKET
CHIRPING]

[KNOCKING
ON DOOR]

Please, come in.

Sit, uh, anywhere you like.

[LAUGHS]

[TENSER GROANS
QUIETLY]

[DOOR CREAKS;
CLOSES]

This is Caprice.

She's my partner.

Yes, I've seen your work.

Beautiful.
Outstanding stuff.

Thank you.

I spoke to your wife.

Your ex-wife.

Why'd you do that?

I wanted to know
what we were getting into.

Do you know now?

[TENSER EXHALES]

Not exactly.

- Okay.
- [CHUCKLES]

- Why don't we, uh,
- [SLAPS FREEZER TWICE]

start with this.

[FREEZER COMPRESSER
DRONES]

[TENSER
CLEARS HIS THROAT]

Don't you want to take a look
at your raw materials?

Please.

[TENSER
CLEARS HIS THROAT]

[CAPRICE SIGHS]

[EXHALES]

I don't think we should do this.

Maybe you shouldn't.

[BANG]

But you obviously
really want us to.

[SIGHS]

Why do you?

I need to make a statement.

A very public statement.

Hm.

Wouldn't a

formal police autopsy
make that statement?

[DOTRICE LAUGHS]

No, no, it would be covered up.

You'd never hear a thing.

[THUD]

[CAPRICE INHALES;
EXHALES]

Performance art
is all consensual.

[CAPRICE SIGHS]

This one would be different.

[TREMULOUS BREATH IN]

This would be different.

Yes, well,
you'll have my consent.

Brecken isn't talking.

I'm sure you realize
that Djuna doesn't care

what happens to her son's body.

I got the feeling
she was obsessed with his body.

[CLEARS HIS THROAT]

Especially his digestive system.

Ah.
Well...

[PLASTIC WRAPPER
CRINKLING]

Ever eaten one of these?

Never seen one of those before.

Go ahead.
Please.

I think it'll be a revelation.

[SNIFFS]

I'm very fussy about my food.

Yeah, so am I.

So was Brecken.

Let me ask you something:

does the EatWare application
work for you?

I looked at one of those
Break Faster chairs

from LifeFormWare
in a showroom window once.

The way they adjust
every part of your body

to make chewing, swallowing
and digesting easy.

At one point in my life

I thought that might be
the answer.

To what question?

The eating problem that I have,

Brecken had...

and that you have.

Hm.

You think they're related?

You're a man who's fighting
what he really is.

Don't you see?

You should let your body
lead you to

where it wants to go instead of

hacking it to pieces
and displaying it

in some hidden museum

like the bones
of an extinct animal.

Saul would be dead now
if he listened to that advice.

His body wants to kill him.

What we're doing is
we're making art

out of anarchy.

We are creating meaning
out of emptiness.

Are you?

Has it ever occurred to you
that you might simply be

interfering in a
fantastic natural process

that you should surrender to?

[GROANS]

Never has.

Will you do

the Brecken show?

Should I do the Brecken show?

What does New Vice
want to get out of this?

You have a new best friend.

Who would that be?

Lang Dotrice.

We want him.

But we don't just want him.

We want his group of freaks.

All of them.

I don't know anything
about a group.

You will find out
about the group.

He likes you.

He trusts you.

He trusts me to
cut up his dead son in public.

What'll that get us?

It could get you
to the next stage,

which is infiltration.

We want to know everything
there is to know about Dotrice

and his plastic-eating comrades.

Plastic-eating?

You don't get it yet?

You talking about those

purple candy bars?

[COPE LAUGHS]

Ever try eating one of those?

One of our agents did.

He's as dead as Brecken now.

Poisoned him?

They're synth bars.

Synthetic, man-made stuff.

Toxic.

A normal human
can't eat that stuff.

But those people,

- they just...
- [CRUNCHING]

they just munch away,
no problem.

[STONE HITS
METAL SIGN]

They're evolving away
from the human path, Saul.

It can't be allowed to continue.

[TENSER GRUMBLES]

[LOW RUMBLE]

[STACCATO TICKING]

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[CRACKLING]

[NASAL EXHALE]

[MECHANICAL WHINE]

[FOOTSTEPS
RECEDING]

Doctor Nasatir?

Yes?

Router and Berst
of LifeFormWare.

Authorized technicians.

You called us,

we're here.

Did I call you?

A paradigm shift
with your Break Faster chair.

Yes, that's true,
but I'm just eating now.

Oh,

it's perfect timing.

[DISQUIETING
SCORE]

[LOW THRUMMING]

[SQUELCHING]

[MECHANICAL STACCATOS]

We're moving everything out.

Mr. Tarr here,
he's taking care of everything.

I figure the Brecken show
is going to make us too hot

but this,

this is what all of us eat.

[TENSER
CLEARS HIS THROAT]

All of us, is how many?

Well, our own little cell,
60, 70 souls

but around the world,
our network is vast.

And, really,
the number's unknowable.

And everybody's had
the same elaborate surgery?

Tarr.

Everyone around the world, yes.

The procedures were developed
over years of collaboration.

There are variations, of course.

Culturally unique versions.

And you did it because?

Because our bodies
were telling us

it was time to change, yes?

Time for human evolution
to sync up

with human technology.

We've got to start feeding on
our own industrial waste.

It's our destiny.

The end result
is you can't eat food.

Well, we eat modern food.

We eat plastic.

And that's what
we like to call it.

And Brecken?

Brecken.

Brecken was the first-born.

The first to be born
with a plastic...

processing digestive system.

To be...

naturally unnatural.

She hated us.
Djuna hated us.

She stole Brecken away from us.

She never really understood
what a gem her kid was.

She... she couldn't handle it.

He really must have been a gem,

because what you're saying
sounds insane to me.

Why?

Well, you're saying
your surgery,

the surgery that
made you plastic eaters,

was somehow replicated
genetically in your son?

That surgically acquired
characteristics

[GRUNTS]

Became inheritable?

You cut off your little finger

[CLEARS THROAT]

And your kids are born
without little fingers?

Brecken was our miracle child.

He was everything
we all wanted to be.

That's all I can say.

Can't say
I understand the process.

But why a Brecken show?

Because I wanted to, someday,
present my son to the world.

I wanted to show the world

that the future
of humanity existed

and was good.

Was at peace and harmony
with the techno world

that we've created.

Now, all I can do
is present the reality

of his dead little body
as a promise of that future.

I don't know what we'll see.

But I know he'll be beautiful.

Sweet and real

and beautiful.

[CICADAS CHIRRING]

[GENTLE SCORE]

[CAMERA SHUTTERS
CLICKING]

Sorry, I gotta...

I didn't expect you to be here.

- Hm.
- Couldn't keep away, huh?

Guess not.

Special event.

- Mm-hm.
- [LAUGHS]

Worth the risk.

We've all wanted to see
an autopsy, haven't we?

[SCORE BECOME DRAMATIC]
[MECHANICAL WHIRRING]

We've all felt
that the body was empty,

empty of meaning

and we've wanted
to confirm that,

so that we could fill it
with meaning.

[BEEPING]

Autopsia means

the seeing for oneself.

Why First Autopsy?

Because we know

there'll have to be
a Second Autopsy.

If you want to do an autopsy,

you need a corpse.

Corporeal,

incorporate,

corpulent.

Body words.

Fleshy words.

[SIZZLING]

Brecken is our corpse.

Brecken was a young boy

who was murdered by his mother

[TREMULOUS BREATH]

Because of what was hidden
in his body.

Because of the meaning
that was there.

For her, the body
was not empty of meaning.

[CLICKING;
SQUELCHING]

[ENGINES WHIRRING]

[SLOW EXHALE]

And now

let us dive deep
into the body of Brecken

and, like professors

of literature,

search for the meaning

that lies locked

in the poem

that was Brecken.

[BEEPING;
CLICKING]

[SQUELCHING]

[AUDIENCE GASPS;
MURMURS]

Oh, my God.

[OVERLAPPING CONVERSATIONS]

[CAMERA ROTORS WHIRRING]

Oh.

So, we see

that the crudeness

and the desperation

and the ugliness of the world

has seeped inside even

our youngest and most beautiful.

[TREMULOUS BREATH]

And we see that the world
is killing our children

from the inside out.

[EMOTIONAL SIGH]

Here we have the anatomy
of today's pathology.

And we know now why
we'll have a Second Autopsy,

and a Third.

[CAPRICE INHALES]

We know

that we'll have to keep...

diving back deep inside,

hoping to find
a different answer.

But for tonight,

let us not be afraid
to map the chaos inside.

[TREMULOUS EXHALE]

Let us create a map

that will guide us

into the heart of darkness.

[CAPRICE GASPS]

[SIGHS]

[BEEPING;
CLICKING]

[SQUELCHING]

[CLICK;
WHIRRING]

[CICADAS CHIRRING]

[SOBBING]

No, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

That was hideous.

I feel so awful.

That's not what he was inside,
that's not what he was.

She did this.

- She?
- She, she, she.

The ex-wife;
the mother of the cadaver.

[GASPS;
SIGHS]

Djuna?

No, she didn't.

She had nothing to do with it.

Of course she did.

What you saw in there,
that was her message to me,

to me.

No, it wasn't.

I have a feeling
she'd approve of this, though.

[DRILLS
WHIRRING]

[CRANIUM
CRACKING]

[BODY THUDS]

[SOFT SCORE]

[FOOTSTEPS
RECEDING]

[METAL TINKLING]

I'm sorry I'm late.

Lots of meetings these days.

Hm...

New Vice is getting
quite big, is it?

It is now.

A lot of people running scared.

So many plastic-eaters
running around with scalpels.

Makes people insecure.

They're pretty good
with the scalpels,

those plastic-eaters.

Better than whoever
did that hack job

on Brecken's insides.

Yeah, so...

Okay...

Okay, we've got a man inside.

We got there first.

The kid was pretty weird
inside anyway.

You wouldn't have
recognized a thing,

but the hell of it was that...

it was all natural.

He was born that way.

[MUTTERING]

You wouldn't want
everybody to know that.

I couldn't.

I couldn't let that out.

Once that got out of the box,

you would never be able
to put it back in.

Your friend at the Registry
did the work.

"Inspired
by Caprice."

My friend?

You mean, Wippet?

No, that strange little woman.

- What's her name?
- [SNAPPING FINGERS]

Uh, Timlin.

I wondered what she was doing
at the show.

I guess she couldn't resist
checking out her work.

She really wants to be
Caprice for you,

if you know what I mean.

And I know that you do.

And Dotrice's assassination?

Assassination?

[HANDS
HIT SIDES]

Fancy word for murder.

He was a leader.

He had a cause.

Whatever it was,
it was a surprise to me too.

You have a bad habit
of not telling me things.

It makes it difficult
to function.

I'm telling you,
we didn't know about it.

Maybe...

Maybe

his crazy wife
got to him somehow.

I don't know.

No, no, no.

Well, it doesn't matter
who killed him.

It's going to make him a martyr.

Just what the cause needs.

The cause?

Sounds like you are
becoming a believer.

If you're going to be good
at living undercover,

a part of you has to believe.

[DRAMATIC SCORE]

[FOOTSTEPS
RECEDING]

Saul!

Saul!

[TENSER
MOANING]

[CAPRICE
MOANING]

[TENSER
GROANING]

Oh...

[TENSER
GAGGING]

Uh!

[CAPRICE
BREATHING HEAVILY]

[TENSER
GAGGING]

[TENSER
COUGHS]

Uh, uh-uh.

[TENSER MOANING;
GAGGING]

[CAPRICE
BREATHING HEAVILY]

You are in pain.

Uh...

Was I?

What's it like?

Physical pain?

Yes.

[SIGHS]

It's hard to be clear about it.

It becomes...

part of the dreaming.

Mixes with

the emotional pain
of the dreaming,

so it's-it's...

It's confused.

I...

I almost thought...

I almost thought I was...

I was feeling.

Ah.

Ahh...

Did you dream about Dotrice?

[TENSER SIGHS]

Dotrice...

Djuna and Brecken.

They were all in the Sark

together.

[SIGHS]

A family autopsy.

[GRUNTS]

Who was at the controls?

You.

And I.

We both were.

[QUIET SCORE]

[MOTORS WHIRRING]

[CLACKING]

[GROAN]

[CAPRICE
SIGHS]

[PLASTIC
CRINKLING]

[GAGGING]

[MOTORS
WHIRRING]

[GROANS]

[COUGHING;
GAGGING]

Well, Saul...

what do you think?

[GRUNTS]

Yes.
I think yes.

[PAINED BREATH]

It's time to try it.

[COUGH;
GAGGING]

[MOANS]

[GROANING]

[CHAIR BUZZES]

[MOTORS
POWER DOWN]

[EMOTIONAL
SCORE]

[CALM EXHALE]

[EXHALE]

[CHAIR
PURRING]

[LONG
EXHALE]

[PURRING]

[CLOSING THEME]