In Treatment (2008–2010): Season 3, Episode 18 - Frances: Week Five - full transcript

How did the week go?

This week and previously applause with loud.

What happens between then and now?

I go home.

What do you think
of the life you chose?

It's a nasty hangover. My life.

Are you upset with me?

Because I said I wouldn't
come to your play?

Isn't there anyone else
you'd like to ask instead?

I'd really like for my mother
to be able to be there.

Twenty years ago you were afraid
you didn't have the strength



to see your mother through her death.

Now your sister is dying
and you're terrified again.

I got the result for the brca1 test.

It will give us something
to talk about next week.

Is this normal?

What?

For it to be so hard
to get started,

you know, to sit here for so
long and not say anything?

It's actually only been
a minute or two,

but yeah, it's quite common.

If I didn't say anything
for the whole hour,

would you say something
eventually

or would you just sit there?

45 minutes later...



"It's time.
We'll pick up here next week."

Eventually I would
say something, yeah,

but the silences
are instructive.

How long before you intervene?
What's the record?

What's the longest
silence by a patient?

20-25 minutes.

Yeah?

- Who blinked first?
- I did.

Finally I said,
"what are you thinking about?"

And she said,
"I've just been sitting here

wondering when you were
gonna say something."

So what are you thinking about?

So last week
as you were leaving

you said that you'd gotten
the results of your test,

but you hadn't
looked at them yet.

I'm not ready to talk
about that yet.

How come?

Did you look at the results?

Izzy...

I'm sitting here
thinking about izzy.

You've heard from her?

Only when she wants something.

Last week I got
an email, a text,

three messages on my voicemail.

It's more communication than
I've had from her in months.

She wanted to download some
music and needed my password.

Well, maybe that was her way
of breaking the ice.

Oh, by whining and begging,

issuing demands?

You sound like you're
kind of angry with her.

Maybe it's time
r you to see her.

I did.

When?

This week.

I had her scarf, remember?

Oh yes, the one that
you took from Tricia's.

And some other things.
I had a t-shirt that she loved

and some paperbacks.
I stuffed them all in a backpack

and I went down to her
school and ambushed her.

Ambushed her?

Well, if I'd told her
I was coming,

she never would have
stayed put.

Anyway, she was out front,

chatting with some friends
on the steps.

She looked
very grown-up,

chic,

full of life.

I just stood there and watched
her for a few minutes.

And what was that like?

It was sort of surreal.

It was like
looking into the future.

Who is
this young woman?

I mean, where'd she come from?

I don't know.
She...

She looked sort of confused
when she saw me, surprised.

Her friends
were gawking.

And then this confident
young woman

just evaporated
in front of my eyes

and she went back to being this
sullen, obnoxious little...

Well, they're grown-ups
around their friends.

But they're... they're
still children with us.

Did you speak to her?

She always licks her lips

when she gets nervous, you know?
It's compulsive.

She did it all the time
when she was a child.

She used to have this red ring
of irritation around her mouth.

She started doing that when
she was talking to me.

I said,
"honey, don't do that,"

and I offered her
some chapstick.

You would have thought
that I tried

to scald her with a hot poker.

I mean, she just fled.

And did that hurt you?

Oh no.

I'm used to stuff like that.
That didn't hurt me.

What she did after hurt me.

What did she do?

She texted me.

"Thanks for bringing the scarf.

You should call Trish.
She's really sick now.

She looks
like a skeleton."

It's always about Trish.

You know, I haven't seen
my daughter for months...

I mean, not really,
not in any meaningful way.

She's been spending every
waking minute with my sister.

I finally reach out to her.
I see her once,

and what does she do?
She texts me about Trish.

How did you feel when you heard

that Patricia looked
like a skeleton?

Well, how do you think I felt?

I don't know. I'm finding it kind
of hard to read your reaction,

but I imagine that it must
have been hard to hear.

It was very hard.
I couldn't even take it in.

I just texted Izzy back
and said,

you know, "great
seeing you, darling."

And "I'll call Trish
after the show."

And did you?

Why?
You agree with Izzy?

You think I should
call my sister?

Yes, I do.

I think that you should
call your sister.

Well, I went out
and got laid instead.

I know, I know
you're judging me,

but I don't care.

I haven't been with anyone
since Russell.

25 and very handsome.

No body fat... none.

Actually I was a little worried.
I thought,

"I wonder if he gets
cold in the winter."

Part of me wanted to fuck him,

part of me wanted to take him
home and wrap him in a blanket

and give him a great big meal.

It was that
maternal-erotic thing

you were
talking about.

So this man that you...

Oh, he's in the cast...
Eddie, Eduardo.

Well, you know
the script, right?

He is one of Maxine's
houseboys.

After the preview I went out for
a quick drink with the cast.

And I was gonna call Tricia
afterwards, when I got home.

I knew she'd be up.
She sleeps during the day

and then she's up at night...
you know, the morphine.

You haven't done that before, have
you... gone out with the cast?

Well, they've been
bugging me.

I've just been avoiding it.

He kept buying me martinis.

I'm a lightweight.
I only need one drink.

But halfway through the third
I asked him to show me

where he lived, just like that.

Wasn't that bold of me?

Do you think it was the
alcohol that made you bold?

Didn't hurt.

Two years.

I kept telling myself,
"don't worry, Frances,

it's like riding
a bicycle."

And was it?

He took off my shirt
and touched me,

and I thought I was
gonna lose it.

I mean, he loved my breasts.

You sound surprised.

I'm not 25 or synthetic,
if you know what I mean.

And he just kept kissing them

and touching them.

Well, I forgot
how sensitive they are.

Are you shocked?

No.

Oh please.

Are you trying to shock me?

No, I just know
how squeamish you are.

What about my behavior would
make you think I'm squeamish?

Well, your whole life
seems squeamish to me.

I mean, no wonder
Trish loved you so much.

She always had a thing
for repressed men.

I'm... I'm struck
by the fact

that you went out

and that you had sex

for the first time in two years

when you were confronted
by the very real image

of your sister being sick...

very sick.

What's the connection
between the two events?

I wanted to feel good
instead of bad.

Do you think there
might be anything else?

No, but clearly you do.

So why don't you just
tell me what it is?

Well, let me ask you something:

Had you opened your test
results by that night?

No.

Have you opened them since?

The first thing
that you mentioned

about having sex with this man

was how good he made
your breasts feel.

I know that
you've talked about

not being able to imagine
having mastectomies

if the test proved positive.

Do you think you might
have been looking

to shield yourself,
to arm yourself

with reasons
not to have the operation,

to be reminded
that your breasts

are sensual

and that you cannot imagine

ever losing them?

I thought about
reading the results

after sleeping with Eddie.

I thought, you know,
time to face reality.

I left there
at 3:00 A.M.

I just... I couldn't
stay any longer.

Why not?

I was just lying awake,
staring at him.

He was tangled in the sheets.

He looked so impossibly young.

So how did you feel
when you went home?

You told me before

that your house
felt empty.

No, I was relieved.

It was good to be alone
after all that intimacy.

I got home.
I put on some Lucinda Williams.

That seemed appropriate,
you know.

She's all about
heartbreak and longing.

And I smoked a little pot.

And I sat there
staring at the envelope.

So did you open it?

I couldn't.
I mean,

"I'll open this envelope,"
I thought,

"and I'll find out I'm gonna
be dead in five years,

and then what?
Who am I gonna call

to help me
through this?"

So I just sat there
staring at it.

And then the pot
eventually made me sleepy.

I went to bed.

So who do you think of
when you say

that you want somebody
to get you through this?

I don't know.
I mean, Tricia's got

all these people
getting her through it.

I mean, she's got
my daughter, right?

She's got an army of
girlfriends on top of that.

She's probably got
Russell, you know,

delivering meals or something.

He always wished that I
could be more like her.

Why do you say that?

Oh, just the way
they'd look at each other

when she'd come over
for dinner... I knew.

Are you saying that
they looked at each other

in, what, a sexual way?

No, Russell would never
have slept with her.

She wasn't beautiful enough.

She set us up because she
wanted to keep him in her life.

Are you suggesting that Tricia
used you to stay close to Russell

for some kind of
emotional affair?

You think she's
so perfect, you know.

Tricia has everybody convinced
she's some kind of a Saint.

Except you?

You don't see her like that?

Guess who else
had sex this weekend.

Izzy and Miller.

How do you know that?

Izzy emailed Trish.
Yeah, she wrote,

"I'm glad we got that
over with.

It wasn't as bad as I
imagined it would be."

What's gonna happen
to that girl?

First her grandmother,
then her aunt,

quite possibly her mom.

She's gonna feel doomed.

Doomed to lose her mother?

Tricia's favorite statistic...

87% chance that
you'll get breast cancer

if you test positive
for the gene.

That's my fate.

But that doesn't have
to be your fate.

Izzy doesn't have to be
doomed to lose her mother.

So you still feel,
if the test is positive,

that you'd rather
develop cancer

than have your breasts removed?

Yes.

And what if you do
develop cancer?

What then?

Trish was a fool...

a double mastectomy for what?

I'm guessing she thought
it might save her life.

Yeah well, it didn't.

She spent the last year
of her life looking like...

My mother knew better.

She refused, you know.

When they found the tumor, she
had a lumpectomy finally,

but she did not let the
doctors take her breasts.

And you understood
her decision.

I did.

I think Tricia had
those operations

just to spite mama,

you know, to reject her vanity.

And by extension reject yours,

just like Izzy rejects you...

Yes.

...Shaving her head in
solidarity with your sister.

You talked about having no one

to get you through
opening your test results.

Do you really feel
that if you asked Izzy

that she would say no?

Would you please read this?

These are your test results?

Yes.

- Are you sure that you...?
- Yes.

You know, I'm happy
to be here for you.

I'm happy to do this with you.

But I think that you
should open the letter.

No.

You don't have to tell me
what it says.

- Just open it, okay?
- Maybe we should just...

What, talk about why I
want you to do this, Paul?

Just do it, please.
We can talk about it afterwards.

What does it say?

Read it, Frances.

Please.

It's negative.

Is it negative?

Am I reading it right, Paul?
Is this...?

That's what it says.

Oh my God.

I'm very relieved.

Thank you.
Thank you.

Yes, it must be
a huge weight lifted.

- This means Izzy too.
- Does it?

That would have been
her inheritance... cancer.

It's unbelievable really.
Isn't this unbelievable?

Yes, it's...
it's great news, yes.

And not only are you now freed

from this awful worry
about Izzy,

about your own health,

but you can now
go see your sister.

What is that supposed to mean?

You no longer have to fear

that she'll torment you
about having that procedure.

No no, I can't see my sister.

Why not?

I'm not going
to see my sister

because she'll ask about this.

She'll ask about the results.

And I'll have to tell her the truth.
I can't lie to Tricia.

Why would you not want to tell her
about the results? They're good.

They're the best possible outcome.
They couldn't be better.

She's dying, okay?
How would you like it

if you were dying
and I came to you and said,

"hey, guess what.
I get to live."

If that person were my sister,
I would be very very glad.

Patricia will be relieved

knowing that Izzy
will have a mother,

knowing, in all likelihood,

that you'll live
an average lifespan.

How do you know
what her reaction will be?

I don't really know.
I'm just predicting,

knowing what I know
about Patricia.

That would be
a normal response.

Oh, I thought you're not supposed
to use words like "normal."

Okay, let me put this as
plainly as I possibly can.

You need to see your sister
before she dies.

You don't have
any reason not to.

The reason you thought you
had no longer exists.

Well, I don't want to hurt her.

She won't be hurt.
She'll be pleased.

You know, I hope she's
more pleased than you are.

I mean, don't you think you could
be a little happier for me?

I know that you've been expecting
the worst possible outcome.

You've been preparing yourself
for bad news, understandably.

But you cannot let
your confusion

or the mixed feelings
that you have

about this genuinely good news

stand in the way of dealing
with your sister.

You need to see your sister
before she dies.

Oh, you know,
what the hell happened

between the two of you anyway?

Sorry?

No, the way you talk
about her...

It's like you're still
in love with her.

Still?
Why do you say that?

Well, that's what
she told me...

that you were in love with her

back then.

Were you?

No.

Well, she thinks you were.

So clearly she's deluded.

She was in love with you.

You are so angry
with your sister.

Is it because she's dying

and she needs you

and you're scared that you
won't be able to help her,

that you won't even be able
to stay in the room with her,

that her illness will be
too much for you to bear

and you'll run away from her just
as you ran away from your mother?

It'll kill me.

It won't kill you.

It's all gone, Paul...
her eyelashes, her hair,

her breasts... gone.
It'll kill me.

She's the one
who's dying, not you.

It is not gonna
kill you.

If you don't do it now,
you'll always regret it.