"FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON" "Based on Gerald Sibleyras' theatrical adaptation of Daniel Keyes' original novel." "He said: "Have a look." "Just a look."" "I didn't want to." "But, still, I looked at his bit of paper." ""What do you see?"" ""A splash of ink." ""A bis splash of ink."" ""An ink blot?" "Look harder."" ""An..." ""An ink splash with dots around it." ""Yes." "Is that it?"" ""No, hang on, Charlie." ""Do you see an image?" ""Hidden in the ink blot?" ""Other people do." "Don't you?"" ""No." ""If there's an image, I'll see it." ""I'm not stupid?" "'" ""Here's what we'll do, Charlie." "'Think about it." ""Close your eyes and think."" ""OK." "I'm thinking..."" ""About what?"" ""A splash Of ink."" "He looked sad." ""Is that no good?" ""I Kept thinking."" ""Stop thinking." ""Imagine."" "He really wanted me to pass the test." "He was helping." ""Imagine something, based on the ink blot." ""Whatever you like, OK?"" ""OK."" "I'll try harder, to keep him happy." "I closed my eyes, like I was thinking." "But I closed them tighter." "To imagine hard - really hard." "As hard as possible." "I waited to start imagining." ""I imagine a big pen leaking ink" ""all over the paper."" "He looked even sadder." "I note down everything I think of." "It's not much, but I note it all down." "In an exercise book." "I know how to write." "Well..." "I'm learning to write." "In Miss Kinnian's adult education class." "Miss Alice Kinnian." "I write well." "Well, before..." "Not like before." "I write well now." "It's a little class, for people like me, who aren't very good." "Some are even..." "Some of them aren't very bright and don't even care." "I like it, myself." "That's the main thing, Miss Kinnian said." ""You're motivated, Charlie."" "She said I'm her best pupil." "And I think that's true." "I think I'm her best pupil." "That's why they sent me for the ink test." "I didn't understand it." "I don't think I passed it." "The people who pass the test see an image in the ink." "I wonder what the image could be." "I just saw a big splash of ink." "But Drs Strauss and Nemur said that they might take me for an experiment." "Because I'm so motivated." "Miss Kinnian said:" ""You're the best in the class." ""You really want to learn, right?"" "Yes, I do." "'Then you need to write down" ""everything that comes into your head, OK?"" ""OK."" "In a little exercise book." ""You're going to play a game, Charlie." ""It's a race."" "" A mouse race?"" ""This is Algernon."" "They introduced him, like he was a person." ""Hello, Algernon."" "It didn't answer." "Obviously - it was a mouse." "In a little box." ""What am I doing here?"" "They gave me some paper and a pencil." "The paper was covered in boxes and lines." "At one side it said "start" and "finish" at the other." "They said it was a..." "A inn Gag"." ""You're going to race Algernon" ""through the same naze."" "Algernon needed a pencil and paper, to make it fair, but I didn't say." "I didn't want to make a fuss." "One of the men in a white jacket had a big watch." "He kept looking at it." "I could see..." "It wasn't a game." "It was another test." "I'd failed the image in the ink splash..." ""Ready?"" ""Yes?" ""Go!"" "As soon as he said "go", he pressed his watch." "I couldn't see Algernon, but he was scratching away." "He was trying, too." "I didn't know what to do." "I drew a line, but it wasn't right." "But I couldn't go back." "I was lost in the naze." "There was no one to tell me the way." ""Gd.!" ""You lost!"" "That's what the guy with the big watch said to me." ""Algernon arrived first." ""Do you want another go?"" "We did it 10 times." "With 10 different nazes." "10 times Algernon arrived first." "I never knew a white mouse could be so intelligent." "I never knew." "They're going to use me for their experiment!" "I'm so excited, I can hardly..." "I've got all sorts of things in my head now." "All 3 of them are in the office." "Miss Kinnian, who's always nice," "Dr Strauss, who's nice too, and Dr Nemur, who's nice, but not as nice." "He doesn't want to use me." "It's true that I failed the other tests." "The image in the splash and the mouse race..." ""Ah!" ""Charlie Ledoux has something that's absolutely key."" "That's what Dr Strauss said." ""Motivation."" "I listened to them and understood that Algernon and I have a lot in common." "We have an IQ of 68." "I didn't know I had an IQ." "And motivation." "Algernon's motivation is cheese." "Mine isn't cheese." "I haven't eaten any this week." "Nemur said..." "That one thing needs to be clear." ""This is the first man" ""whose IQ will be tripled by surgery."" "I didn't even know I had an IQ." "And now it's going to triple." ""Triple" means..." "Three times bigger." "Dr Strauss said:" ""People at his mental level" ""are rarely like him."" ""Him" means me." "'They're hostile, they don't want to learn." "'That's not true of him."" ""Him" is me again." "People have never talked about me so much." "Miss Kinnian said:" ""At his age, with his IQ, learning to read and write" ""shows huge motivation." ""It's like us trying to learn Einstein's relativity" ""without any help."" "I don't know what that means." "But I know it's kind." "Dr Nemur said:" ""OK, if you're sure about this," ""let's take Charlie Ledoux."" "I" "I'll note it all in my exercise book." "In fact, the experiment is an operation." "It's happening this morning." "I've had nothing to eat." "I asked, but I got nothing." "I don't see why eating would stop me becoming intelligent." "That's how it is." "On my way to the hospital this morning, a black cat crossed the road." "Just in front of me." "I had my rabbit's foot, of course, but will that be enough?" "I'm a bit scared." "Because they said: "good luck"." "That means I need luck." "For the operation, for sure." "Professor Nemur said we have to trust science." "I asked him if... after the operation, I'd beat Algernon, the white mouse." "He said: "Maybe." ""If the operation works..." ""if the operation works," ""you'll be more intelligent than a mouse." ""A lot more."" "Just to be as intelligent would be great." "I'm hung"!" "" "I could do with a bit of cheese." "I didn't feel anything." "They did the operation while I was asleep." "I didn't feel anything." "That was a good idea." "They took off the bandages." "They looked happy." "They weren't laughing, but they were happy." "Professor Nemur looked in my exercise book." "I wrote down what had happened." "He said my writing wasn't so good." "Especially the spelling." "I have to put the date on the top right whenever I write, so they can see my progress." "Professor Strauss thinks it's good that I write down what happens, but that I could also write down what I feel and what I think." "I tried thinking, with the ink splash." "It didn't really work." "I've tried again, but it didn't work." "I wrote in my exercise book that I couldn't manage to think." "I hope that's OK." "Now I'm going to be intelligent" "I'll probably need to think." "That's what they're expecting." "That makes me feel nervous." "What do intelligent people think?" "Interesting things." "What are interesting things?" "I don't know any." "I'd like to." "I can't manage" "to think." "Nothing's happening." "Really..." "It doesn't seem to me like anything's changed." "I've done all these tests and races and that damn mouse still beats me every time." "Professor Nemur wants me to carry on, but nothing's happening." "It took Algernon a long time to become 3 times as intelligent." "She had the same operation as me." "But so far, nothing!" "That's what I wrote in my book." "Nothing's happening." "I put the date, like they told me." "And I wrote:" ""Nothing's happening."" "I went back to work in the factory." "A plastic factory." "It wouldn't be any different if the factory did something else." "I clean the toilets." "I'm supposed to keep quiet about the operation." "I wrote in my book that I was happy to be back at work." "That's what I think." "I like my friends at the factory." "I missed them." ""Look at Charlie, he's got some extra brains."" "It's because I've got a scar on the side of my head." "Joe said that as a joke about the scar." "That's how he knew." "He's intelligent." ""Charlie, did you forget the key?" ""Did you open the door with your head?"" "Franck said that." "That was another joke about the scar." "Everyone was laughing at work." "Me too." "L" "I don't want to go back to hospital." "I don't want to do any more races with Algernon." "There's something sad about getting beaten by a mouse." "Dr Nemur agrees." ""We'll stop the races for now." ""You're going to listen" ""to cassettes, while you sleep, instead." ""Someone will speak." ""You'll think you don't understand." ""But while you sleep." ""You'll be stocking up knowledge."" "He gave me a box that I put by my bed." "I have to..." "All night, I have to listen to someone I don't know." "I can't sleep." "They need to take that guy away." "Instead of getting more intelligent at night, couldn't I go back to Miss Kinnian's adult class?" "And become intelligent during the day?" "Since the operation, I haven't been going." "I miss it." "I miss the class." "And I miss Miss Kinnian, too." "This is better." "She comes to the hospital for a one-on-one lesson." "It's just the 2 of us." "I can ask her whatever I want." "I tell her about the guy who stops me sleeping." "She showed me how to turn it down." "Thanks, Miss Kinnian." "Thanks, Miss Kinnian." "Thanks for everything you do for me." "I like your hair, how it falls on your shoulders." "I don't know how to say that." "Go!" "I can hear Algernon scratching." "But I'm going fast too." "And I can feel I'm not going wrong." "Look out, Algernon!" "Speed up, or else..." ""I won!" ""I beat the mouse, didn't I?" ""Right?" "I beat Algernon."" "Hugo's happy too." "I really beat Algernon." "We did another race." "I beat him 8 times." "I must be getting intelligent." "Yes..." "Yes, to beat a mouse as intelligent as Algernon..." "I took Algernon in my hand." "To stroke him." "And to be like two champions shaking hands." "Or paws." "He was so soft." "Like cotton wool." "I wanted to feed him, but Hugo said no." "To eat, Algernon has to pass a test, which gets more complicated every day." "A mouse has never stayed intelligent for so long after the operation." "They teach him something every day." "It..." "It bothers me a bit." "I think it's unfair, having to do a test to be able to eat." "And Algernon never asked to be involved in any of this." ""For exactly 365 days" ""I'd been living" ""on that desert island," ""with no company other than" ""my cat and dog" ""and no help" ""but my own ingenuity."" "A man all alone on a desert island." "He was so intelligent, he invented ways of eating and getting water..." "That's a book I'm reading with Miss Kinnian." "It's really hard." "I've never read such a hard book." "If I'd been in Robinson Crusoe's shoes," "I'd have had lots of trouble." "I don't know if I'd have even tried." "What's the point of surviving on your own?" "Miss Kinnian didn't agree." "She thinks that you have to try, whatever happens." ""YOU never know n" "Robinson Crusoe was right to go to such trouble, because it turned out he wasn't alone." "On the book there was a picture of him with a hat looking at a footprint on the beach." "So he wasn't alone." "Full-stops, commas, semi-colons, apostrophes..." "That's an unstuck comma." "I never put in punctuation when I write." "Never." "Miss Kinnian says it makes it tedious to read." "'Tedious"..." "I learned that today." "I learn lots of new words, like "tedious"." "I repeat them and learn to write them." "I had no idea there were so many words." "There are some strange ones." ""Bragging"" ""Downpour"." ""Rebuff", with two f's." ""Pittance". "Cackle"." "Cackle..." "I ordered a large soda." "And I drank it..." "Down in one." "I was thirsty." "But it tasted funny." "Not like usual." "Joe, Franck, Ellen were in the bar and some others from the factory." "Suddenly, my head started spinning." "Joe said:" ""Charlie, we're going to teach you to dance." ""Ellen, show Charlie how to dance."" "I didn't want to learn to dance, but everyone thought it was a good idea." "So Ellen started dancing with me." ""Great, Charlie." "You're like Fred Astaire." ""Let's speed up."" "I was spinning." "My head was spinning, faster and faster." "I couldn't stop." "Someone tripped me up and I fell over." "I went down like a sack of potatoes." "I just had time..." "to let go of Ellen." "So I didn't drag her down too." "I stayed on the ground, on my hands and knees." "My head was spinning and I couldn't get up." "I could hear laughter all around me, getting louder." ""He's so funny," one girl said." ""He doesn't know where he is."" "Joe." "Why are they laughing?" "I felt something funny." "An emptiness." "My stomach was hollow." "I didn't know where to put myself." "I went home." "It's funny - I never realized that I'm funny, because I'm stupid." "Things have changed since the operation." "I'm not going to the factory this morning." "I called the boss and told him I'm sick." "I didn't want to see my colleagues." "I didn't want to clean the toilets." "My situation is more tragic than yours." "You've never been a stupid mouse surrounded by normal mice." "You've never known the shame of stupidity." "There's no Franck or Joe in your cage." "You went from "normal" to "genius"." "He looked at me, with his little pink-ringed black eyes." "I saw tenderness in them." "Understanding, even." "I'd never tell anyone about that." "Everyone says I'm making great progress." "I can't say" "I saw tenderness in a mouse's eyes." "Even a genius." "But it really feels like we understand each other." "We haven't raced for a long time." "I overtook him." "Dr Nemur wants me to do the ink splash test again." "It's the same guy who gave me the last test." "I find him unpleasant." "I don't know why I'm so nervous." "Am I supposed to see one image, or several?" "The right image?" "Maybe it's a trick." "To see if I'm stupid enough to look for something that isn't there." ""Yes, yes." "Yes..." ""Of course you remember." ""I'd like you to look at this." ""What could this be?"" "I just look, without saying anything." "I waited for him to get impatient." ""What do you see here?" ""What do you see?" ""Just say what's coming into your head."" ""What do you mean, 'coming into my head'?" ""You mean there's..." "'There's no image in the ink?" ""I have to find the image?"" ""What?"" "He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes." "Like last time." "Like he was really tired..." "Or fed up." "I don't like that guy." ""Last time you told me" ""that anyone can see the image in the ink." ""Everyone except me."" ""I don't think so, Charlie." ""Last time, I think I used the same words."" "'That's not true." ""You lied, to make fun of me." ""Like Franck and Joe."" ""Who are Franck and Joe?"" "I didn't say." "He wouldn't understand." "He wanted images, so I gave him images." ""That makes me think of 2 men fighting with sabres." ""That makes me think of 2 bats" ""shooting something." "'That..." He was happy with that." "'That makes me think of a family" ""picnicking by the beach." "'That makes me think of a 42-year-old woman," ""recently divorced, walking Pilou." ""Her dog's called Pilou." "You can see that immediately."" "He looked straight at me, but kept his glasses on." ""No, sorry." ""Sorry, the dog's called Edgar." ""Her ex-husband's called Pilou."" ""Are you kidding, Charlie?"" "I liked that." "Not really fair, but it made me feel good." "I had my operation 3 months ago." "My progress is amazing." "Strauss hasn't published his work." "He's right - the operation's success isn't completely proven." "I asked them to forget the exercise book." "I don't write in it." "I don't have time." "I've got too much to read and study." "Geography, history, mathematics, physics." "I'm learning." "I'm learning." "I listen to my cassettes, to learn foreign languages." "I'm working on my photographic memory." "I read a book then shut my eyes." "Whole pages come back." "It's so practical." "My mind seems to be unfolding." "Like a huge sheet of paper." "There's so much there." "It's limitless." "At the factory, I spoke to Mr Donnegan about a way to rationalize the machines." "He could see that it would save money." "100,000 dollars a year, he said, in saved labour." "He gave me a 25-dollar bonus." "Mr Donnegan thinks I'm stupid, but I don't mind, because now I know." "I got fired." "They had a petition to get me fired." "They all signed - even Mr Donnegan." "Apart from Fanny Gendro, in accounts." "She didn't sign - despite the pressure and threats." ""It's not to say" ""I don't think you're strange." ""You're nice and trustworthy," ""not too quick, but honest." ""Who knows how you got so intelligent?" ""Like everyone says, it's peculiar."" "How can they say that?" "Why would it be wrong to get intelligent?" "To want to learn and understand the world?" "So, I'm leaving the factory." "It's a bit sad, I have to say." "I don't have any other friends." "Drs Strauss and Nemur are brilliant, but they're not friends." "There's Hugo." "He did my tests with Algernon." "He's nice, but... not so bright." "I'm on my own from now on." "There's just Miss Kinnian left." "I invited her to dinner." "A nice restaurant - a bit romantic." "Miss Kinnian is sophisticated." "I couldn't take her just anywhere." "In truth, the restaurant I chose was a bit romantic." "She got out a cigarette." "I lit it with a candle." "We talked about my progress." "She said that my intellect had overtaken hers and that I'd never been stupid - just simple." "Simple - that's the word." "A bit like a child, who knows nothing of the world." "She said I'd reached a plateau and there are others." "I wasn't really listening." "If I was less shy" "I'd have said she had nice hair." "Nice, light-brown hair which she flicks over her shoulder, with her head." "Like that." "During the conversation, it'd slip back over, to cover part of her face." "Sometimes she'd help it on its way." "Her hair was there for a moment, on her chest." "Then she flicked it back again." "Then it'd start again." "Miss Kinnian said:" ""I hope I wasn't wrong to send you down this road."" ""Wrong?" "Why?" ""It worked, didn't it?" ""Even Algernon stayed intelligent."" "She looked at me silently." "And"..." "I'd never dare to kiss her or to make love to her." "I put my hand in my pocket and felt my rabbit's foot." ""Thanks for dinner, Charles."" "She called me Charles." "Not Charlie." "L" lost the ..ie.._" "Because I'm more intelligent." "I'm not little Charlie anymore..." "I'm Charles." "Mrs Nemur invited me to dinner." "To celebrate." "What?" "I don't know." "Professor Strauss and his wife and another couple would be there." "I arrived on time." "I'm always punctual, which means I always arrive first." "I brought flowers and wine." "I couldn't decide." "A present for him and for her." "That's how they were divided up." "I didn't need to say anything." "She said: 'They're wonderful."" "He said: 'Thanks." "I'll let it breathe."" "He went in the kitchen." "I was alone." ""Breathe, wine, breathe."" "I had a look round." "Checked the place out." "It was my first visit." "The living room was classic." "The coffee table was carefully disorganized." "Tables say a lot about their owners." "An onyx bowl, with African pebbles, an ashtray and cigar paraphernalia." "Some books, one by a painter, a design encyclopedia, a book of photos." "I didn't dare sit down." "The sofa cushions were like big balloons." "I worried they wouldn't go back into shape." "So I sat down." "Then they were back already." "Mrs Nemur spoke to me like I was Algernon, the mouse." "With the same tone." "She glanced at the cushions, squashed out of shape." ""OK, Charlie?"" ""Yes?" ""You're early."" ""No."" ""Do you want a game of chess while we wait?"" "Professor Nemur never misses a chance to test my intellect." "But he does it subtly." ""A game?" "Sure."" "After about 10 moves, he was in trouble." "The Grfunfeld defense." "He shot me a baleful look." "The doorbell rang." "It was Strauss." ""We'll finish later, Charlie."" "But he'd already lost." "The Strausses arrived and another couple that I didn't know." "Everyone kissed." "I held out my hand." "I wanted to avoid kissing." "Mrs Strauss wasn't against the idea." "I could tell by the way she came forward and stopped." "I went forwards, but she'd changed her mind." "Kissing is complicated." "You hesitate." "To kiss?" "Or not?" "Let's go." "Let's kiss." "We both went forwards." "We almost bumped heads." "It was only supposed to be a kiss." "So what do I do with my hand?" "Put it on her shoulder?" "Let it hang down?" "If you put it on, put it on firmly." "I put it on and made a little movement, like a stroke." "Too much." "I did the same number of kisses as the others: two." "Mrs Strauss is the sort of woman that people say" ""must have been beautiful."" "And then:" ""And she still is."" "A nice face, preserved by charm and intelligence." "She's at the point where everything's still possible and whatever happens she'll keep on." "She was always nice to me." "The other couple..." "The woman was called Chris." "She was wearing a tight black skirt." "Her husband was called Marc." "Chris and Marc both worked for a scientific review." "They watched me, discreetly." "I could see Chris' knees." "Her skirt was rucked up." "I hoped it'd go higher." "Her legs were crossed." "I could almost see the start of her thigh." "She felt me looking and pulled her skirt to stop me from seeing." "In vain..." "She was dressed like that for me." "She must have practiced, sitting, legs crossed, but to the limit of what's acceptable." "She liked it." "So did I." "Champagne." "We were all happy and I don't even like champagne." "Nemur said:" ""Here's to Charlie."" "The finishing touch." ""We're going to publish our work soon."" "Things went cold." "Strauss didn't agree at all." ""It's too early."" ""What?"" ""Anything could happen yet."" ""Like what?" "Relapse?" "Death?"" ""Algernon's fine."" ""He's a mouse." ""An experiment on a mouse isn't the same." ""Are you forcing me?"" "I was more with Strauss." "You need to be cautious." "I hadn't warned Aunt Nissi." ""What do you think, Charlie?" "You'll be a star."" ""It's not up to him."" "Strauss was furious." "I took my coat and left without speaking." "I need to catch up on my maths." "I'm in touch with different universities." "There are so many bright people." "I'm studying piano, cello and composition, to become a conductor." "I've memorized the great symphonies." "I know each part." "I don't expect to rival the masters, but music is a field in which the mind can flourish." "I like counterpoint." "Mozart and Bach improvised counterpoint for 8 voices." "Incredible." "The more I progress the more limitless the human mind seems." "I don't have time for everything." "It's too much." "And I work in a lab now." "I go to the neurosurgery conferences that Strauss and Nemur drag me to." "I should say "us", because Algernon comes too." "It's boring." "The specialists aren't always up to much." "They're supposedly the best of the crop." "The drinks are the only good thing." "Strauss and Nemur show off." "I flirt." "That's new for me." "The women are interested in me." "My physique is totally ordinary." "It's something else." "It must be my mind." "That's an incredible discovery." "Intelligence is attractive." "With my vast memory," "I can talk about any subject." "Some of them are married." "That doesn't make them any less attractive." "And who do you think I met?" "Chris." ""My husband couldn't come."" "She could hardly conceal her glee." "After 4 drinks, she was ready to offer her cleavage to science." "I gave in to my love of mathematics and tried to work out the equation of the two parabolas that her blouse formed." "When she laughed, the undulation reminded me of Kepler." "We..." "We ended up in the corridor." ""Stop, you'll spoil my hair."" ""Don't worry." "That's not going to happen."" "Chris will be at all the conferences, especially when her husband can't come." "You see..." "The truth is I seem a bit awkward." "I have more and more trouble communicating." "Thank goodness for books, music and thought." "Most of the time, I'm alone." "I can go for weeks without speaking to anyone." "I've got lots of projects." "A biography of Gauss, in particular." "Friedrich Gauss." "An 18th-century mathematician." "When he was 8, his schoolteacher tried to settle the class with the following problem." "Work out 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 4 plus 5 all the way to 100." "She thought it'd take them an hour." "But then one boy gave the answer:" "5.050." "She asked him how he knew so fast." "Simple." "He added 1 and 100 to make 101, 2 plus 99 is 101, 3 plus 98 is 101 and so on, 50 times." "The result is 50 times 101, so 5,050." "Gauss was called "the prince of maths"." "His name was given to a curve," ""the Gaussian curve"." "A bell curve..." "A bell curve that rises progressively to its peak and then comes down in exactly the same way that it rose." "The only person that I want to see is Miss Kinnian." "I miss her." "I invited her for dinner again." "I chose a better restaurant." "It was less romantic, cosy, not flashy." "But my conversation was dreadful." "I talked about quantum mechanics and she said she knew nothing about it." "'That's a shame." ""You can't imagine the emotion" ""the Planck constant evokes in me."" ""No, I can't."" ""Without that, Einstein wouldn't have" ""discovered relativity."" ""No doubt."" ""Do you realize" ""his 1879 theory of thermodynamics" ""still puzzles people now?"" ""I had no idea."" "What an idiot..." "Instead of talking about her and us..." "I walked with her to her apartment." "We walked in silence." ""I care about you." "'"Tenderly."'" ""Why tenderly?"" ""Your presence reassures me and calms me down." ""I don't feel different with you." ""I'm just an ordinary man, intimidated by a pretty woman."" "I touched her hand." "Alice didn't move." "I walked off." "I'm scared of disappointing her." "Algernon bit me." "I went to see him in the lab." "I picked him up and he bit me." "Hugo says his attitude's changed." "He's unsettled and aggressive." "He knows best." "You can trust him." "He's losing his interest in things, day by day." "He won't run in his maze." "He can't work out how to use the lock." "They feed him anyway." "We all know what that might mean." "We're all thinking it." "No one dares say, but..." "I can see them looking worried, even suspicious." "Nemur keeps on saying that Algernon's behaviour doesn't mean much." "His furtive gaze makes me think the opposite." "I've been watching myself." "I've been scrutinizing myself." "Every detail is a potential concern." "Am I hungry?" "Why am I tired?" "I'm going crazy" "I have to carry on working." "I'll abandon my other work." "I'll devote myself exclusively to Strauss' and Nemur's work." "With all due respect, their limits are clear." "I'm the only one who can find a solution." "I need to speed things up." "I need to..." "Be quiet." "Be quiet." "I need quiet to concentrate." "I can't listen to Strauss and Nemur jabbering anymore." "They never agree." "They just shout at each other." "They can't keep calm." "I've been given a lab to continue my research." "I'm onto something, I can feel it." "I need to understand Algernon's regression." "I need to know if the same thing is going to happen to me." "And when." "Nemur came to see me:" ""You can't rush" ""a lifetime's work."" ""I feel capable now," ""so let me work!"" "No!" "I'm not getting irritable." "I'm working a lot." "I'm just tired." "I need to speed things up." "I don't have time to sleep." "Anyway, I've developed insomnia." "I wander, alone, hoping for sleep's release, turning over my dark ideas." "Sometimes I go to Alice's." "We look at each other." "I don't say anything." "Total silence." "What a disaster." "I see Algernon every day." "His motor activity is declining." "His glandular activity is reduced." "He's losing his coordination." "He shows signs of amnesia." "In all likelihood, my mental degradation will speed up." "I'm writing again," "to record my decline." "I can only let it come on." "I need to do one thing before it's too late." "I need to see Alice." "She puts her hand gently on my face." "I kiss her." ""I've come to say goodbye, Alice."" ""I want to keep you near me." ""Stay with me, Charles."" "And we made love." "Algernon's dissection showed his brain had lost a lot of weight." "As I noted, the girus were flattened and the longitudinal fissure had deepened." "That's..." "That's what's... happening to me." "I'm in the terminal stage." "My brain's losing weight." "I put Algernon in a cheese box and buried him in the yard behind the lab." "And I cried." "Like he was family." "What is it?" "What is it?" "Is it you, Professor Strauss?" "Are you here to console me?" "Get out of here!" "Everything's fine." "The decline continues." "I'm going down the curve." "You can go!" "Er..." "I'm forgetting everything." "Everything." "Everything." "Alice just knocked." "I tell her to come back further..." "I tell her to come back later." "Go." "Leave me alone." "Leave me, please." "I can't focus." "I'm irritable." "Touchy." "I wanted to re-read Paradise Lost." "I remember enjoying it so much." "Now, I can't understand a word of it." "The scores..." "Just sheets with little black marks on lines." "I can't hear music." "I can't hear anything." "I stay lying down." "Turning over the same idea." "I've turned it over in my mind for so long it's gone smooth and round." "It's all positive, no drawbacks." "Rolling around in my head." "Suicide." "Blow my brains out before they shrivel." "Leave nothing for Strauss and Nemur." "Or Alice." "No proof." "No more research, conclusions or reports." "Look, Alice." "It's spring." "Everything's in bloom." "I'm all shrivelled up and necrotized." "It's slipping through my fingers." "Most books are too hard." "I can't understand them." "I have trouble forming words when I write." "Spelling..." "You remember, you taught me how to spell." "I have to check simple words in the dictionary." "It doesn't make me angry, it makes me furious." "So I don't check." "I'm becoming simple again." "Not stupid, simple." "That's what you said." "But it doesn't make me feel better." "Don't feel guilty, Alice." "Dr Strauss is sorry too." "He asked what they could do." "There's nothing to do." "And I consented." "I knew the risks." "No, you're right, I knew nothing." "I did what I was told." "Yes..." "I was like a mouse." "Yes..." "A mouse isn't so serious." "Don't worry, it'll be all right, Alice." "It'll be all right." "Goodbye, Miss Kinnian." "Mr Donnegan was nice." "He took me back at the factory." "He'd replaced me, but he took me back on." "I explained what had happened." "That I was intelligent, but it's over now." "He put his hand on my shoulder and said:" ""You're brave, Charlie."" "He's nice." "While he was talking, I..." "I was stroking my rabbit's foot in my pocket - to make sure that he took me back on." "It worked out." "The guy who replaced me wasn't happy." "When I came to get my broom and mop, he said:" ""Charlie, I hear you used to be a real genius." ""Say something clever," ""because it's hard to believe."" "Joe Carp caught him by the collar and said:" ""Leave Charlie alone," ""or you'll have to deal with me."" "Yes..." "Yes..." "He stepped in to defend me." "He's..." "He's my friend." "Then I cleaned everything." "Ah." "Good..." "So they'd be happy with me." "At the end of the day, Franck came and said that I could go to him if anyone bothered me." "Him or Joe." "They'd sort it out." "That was nice." "Yes..." "It's all good." "I've got my job and my friends back." "Today's Sunday." "I can see people going to church." "I can hear the bells, calling them." "I had to stay in bed for a week." "Someone knocked at my door." ""Who could that be?"" "No one's been for a while." "Another knock." ""Who is it?"" "Aunt Nissi." "Aunt Nissi has got smaller too." "She's frail..." "Like dead wood." "I didn't dare hug her." "Someone called to tell her." "Miss Kinnian." ""So Charlie," ""I hear you're intelligent now."" ""Did they tell you?"" ""Yes, I went to the factory."" ""Really?"" ""I can see that you're more intelligent."" ""Yes..."" ""I'm happy, because..." ""Because..." ""Because you weren't so sharp, you know."" ""Yes, I know."" ""I hear you stay in bed all day" ""and only go out to put flowers on a mouse's grave."" "'That's true."" "'That's not normal, Charlie."" ""Yes, but Aunt Nissi..." ""Algernon wasn't a normal mouse."" ""You can't stay in bed doing nothing." ""It's not like you." "You're not lazy." ""I've never known you to be idle." ""Or you must be ill." "That would be different." ""Are you ill, Charlie?"" ""No, I'm not ill." ""Sometimes I do get headaches." ""Crushing headaches." ""But that's because of my brain."" ""A doctor would know what to do."" ""No, no, he wouldn't know."" ""I wanted to pay your rent, you know," ""but someone had already paid it."" ""who?"" ""A young woman with long hair." ""Do you know who it could be?" ""Well..." ""I'm old now, Charlie," ""I can't look after you." ""So if you're not ill, you have to work." ""Becoming intelligent doesn't mean" ""you don't have to work."" "We talked for a long time, but I don't know about what." "When she left, she said:" ""You haven't changed."" "And she took her train." "She said it wouldn't wait." "So..." "She needed to hurry." "I beg you... let me always know how to read and write." "I don't know..." "I don't know what I did." "But I know I was intelligent." "Very intelligent." "I haven't forgotten that." "I get letters from universities everywhere." "I can't understand them, but..." "They still know me." "If it turns out... it could be that I'll be able to be more intelligent than before." "Before the operation." "Yes." "It won't all be lost." "It won't be for nothing." "Yes..." "I have trouble reading, but I'm practising." "I need to practise to read Aunt Nissi's letters." "They're more complicated than before." "I did something stupid." "The other day..." "I forgot that I wasn't in" "Miss Kinnian's adult class." "I went in," "I sat down in my place." "She gave me a funny look." "Her mouth was open." "She said..." ""Charles!"" ""I'm ready for the lesson, Miss Kinnian."" "She went out crying." "Everyone in the class looked at me, like it was my fault she was crying." "I didn't recognize anyone." "Then I remembered." "I left before she came back." "But..." "It's funny..." "I..." "I don't remember her calling me Charles." "Ever." "It was always Charlie." "L" "I'm going." "Yes, I'm going." "That's best." "Somewhere where I don't know anyone." "Where no one knows I was a genius." "I'll take two books, to practise reading." "I'll read them, so I don't forget." "Robinson Crusoe and another." "Robinson Crusoe was alone on an island." "I still remember that." "I haven't chosen the other book." "But..." "Either..." "Maybe I'll just take one book." "Maybe just Robinson Crusoe." "Yes..." "Yes, one book will be fine." "I'll leave..." "I'll leave my exercise book too." "I don't want to write in it." "I can't write well anymore." "Nothing comes into my head." "I'll give it to Professor Strauss." "He always wanted... me to write in it." "UK"..." ""I'm happy to have been intelligent." ""I have no regrets."" "That's what I put at the end of the book." "I added something:" ""It'd be nice..." ""to put flowers on Algernon's grave," ""in the yard behind the lab." ""Only if you have time." ""I put in... a stick." ""Where the cheese box is buried." ""In the yard." ""Not much..." "Just a little flower." ""Not to forget him." ""When you go past, you..." ""you can glance at it."" "There." ""Just a glance." ""Not to forget." ""Just a glance."" "There..." "Subtitles:" "Eclair Media"