GIVE YOURSELF TO ME
By Jukebox
- DONNA:
Come in!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Miss Gunn. The screen does not do you justice. May I come in?
- DONNA:
I—thank you, Doctor Keller. Please, yes, come in! Sit down! I mean, feel free to sit down. If you want.
- DONNA:
I’m so glad you could come. When I sent my assistant to talk to you, she said—
- DOCTOR KELLER:
I apologize. I’m afraid I may have rather intimidated your young assistant. In truth, I found Miss Blake to be both charming and accommodating. She did her job well...as evidenced by the fact that I am here.
- DONNA:
I wasn’t sure—I mean, I know you said you would be, but she said that you didn’t like the idea.
- DONNA:
I thought you might have changed your mind.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
I will admit, I am of somewhat mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, I rather detest the character of Svengali, and the thought of yet another adaptation of that odious book irritates me to no end.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Do you know how many people know nothing of hypnotism beyond the book ‘Trilby’? Or, to be more precise, beyond their third-hand understanding of the events of the book, which they probably think is actually called ‘Svengali’ like you plan to call your film. Everyone seems to think that all hypnotists have some sort of sinister scheme to enslave the will of young women, thanks to that novel. du Maurier has practically ruined the reputation of my profession, and to actively participate in furthering the slander against it by helping, even indirectly, with another sensationalist film about a “sinister hypnotist”...it was highly tempting to refuse.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
On the other hand, Miss Gunn, I confess that I am a tremendous fan of yours.
- DONNA:
Oh, thank you! And please, call me Donna.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
I would be delighted...Donna. Now, before we begin, I need to ask you a few questions.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Don’t worry, Donna, this isn’t a test. I simply need to know what you want to get out of our sessions together, and your time under hypnosis.
- DONNA:
I...it’s just, well, this is my first movie. They cast me because...
- DONNA:
To be honest, they cast me because I’m famous and my name sells tickets. That’s not what they said, though. They told me they cast me because of my singing voice. But I don’t want to be like Mariah Carey, one of those pop stars who does a movie and it turns out she should have stuck to music. I want to be good, really good. I want people to really believe I’m Trilby O’Ferrall, not Donna Gunn.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
I’m afraid that you might have over-estimated my talents. I’m no sorcerer, Donna. I can’t simply snap my fingers and make you believe you’re a 19th-century Irishwoman—
- DONNA:
- (somewhat assertive for
the first time)
And I wouldn’t want you to. As I said, I want to prove that it wasn’t a mistake to cast me. I want to show people that I can really act. If it’s you hypnotizing me, then it’d feel...empty, somehow, if I did a good job. Like it wasn’t me at all.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Oh, my dear Donna. That simply isn’t true at all. You’ve been reading that dreadful book, haven’t you? Imagining yourself waking up a few months from now, not even remembering yourself in front of the camera? Or perhaps walking down the red carpet to the premiere, still wondering what the film is like?
- DOCTOR KELLER:
It doesn’t work that way at all, my dear. Hypnosis only does what you want it to do. I can use my talents to guide your subconscious and help you achieve a greater control over your conscious mind, but in the end, it all comes from you, not me. Do you understand?
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Excellent. So what do you want to achieve through hypnosis, Donna? Why did you ask me to come here today?
- DONNA:
I really just wanted to feel what it was like to be hypnotized, to be honest. Trilby gets hypnotized a lot in the script, and I thought that it would really help me get into the role if I knew what that was like. (laughs) If nothing else, it’ll give me some good stories for the press junket.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
I must say, Miss Gunn, that I deeply resent the suggestion that my presence here is a mere publicity stunt. As I have already mentioned, I detest the popular image this film promotes, and have no wish for my talents to be used in service to furthering that image. If you cannot understand that, then I believe we have nothing further to discuss. Good day to you, madam.
- DONNA:
No, wait!
- DONNA:
Really, I’m very sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you! I promise, I won’t say a word about you to anyone if you don’t want me to, not one word!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Interesting.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of hypnotists in the Los Angeles area. You are famous, wealthy...you could have your pick. Yet you have courted me, you anxiously awaited my presence, and now you practically beg me to stay when I make demands on you. Why do you think that is, Donna?
- DONNA:
I...I’ve looked at some of those other hypnotists. Lots of them! They’re not right for me. I don’t know how I know, but I do. They won’t help me the way you will. Please, Doctor Keller. You’re the only one who can give me...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Give you what, Donna?
- DONNA:
I don’t know!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
But I do, Donna. Your subconscious does too, even if it wasn’t ready to let your conscious mind know before now. You don’t just want to know what it feels like to be hypnotized, you want to know what it feels like to be Trilby O’Farrall. You want to know—really know, not just imagine—what it feels like to be completely in the power of another. You want to feel what she feels, when she surrenders her mind completely to Svengali. That’s why you chose me, Donna. You looked at me and saw Svengali. Isn’t that it?
- DONNA:
No, I...I didn’t mean to...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
But you did, Donna. There are no accidents to the subconscious mind. You looked at me and thought that I looked exactly like the “sinister hypnotist” you’ve been imagining ever since you read that script. Didn’t you?
- DONNA:
I’m sorry...
- DOCTOR KELLER
- (icily)
Didn’t you?
- DONNA:
...yes.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
That is what you want, Donna. You couldn’t admit it before, because you didn’t know it before, but now you feel the truth of it. You want me to be your Svengali. You want to give yourself to me. That is why you asked me to come here, because deep down, you knew that you needed to learn what it felt like to surrender your mind and will completely to me in order to be able to portray it on film. Nothing else will convince an audience, Donna. Only when you have experienced complete hypnotic submission can you show others what it feels like. Doesn’t that make sense, Donna?
- DONNA:
Yes...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And now that you know the truth, you know what you want to do, Donna. You want to let me hypnotize you. Because it’s so important to you to be a good actress. Being a good actress means understanding the role. Understanding the role means letting me hypnotize you. So what do you want to do, Donna?
- DONNA:
- (distant)
I want...to let you...hypnotize me.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
That’s right, Donna. You want to let me hypnotize you. You want to submit to me completely. You want to obey my every command. Deep down, you know this will help you play the part, and you want that more than anything. So when your conscious mind is hesitant, or confused about obeying me, your deepest self will remember how important it is, and it will help me to hypnotize you. Your deepest self will help you obey, because the better you obey, the more like Trilby you are. And you want to be just like Trilby, don’t you?
- DONNA:
Oh, yessssss....
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Oh, yes, Donna. Your deepest self hid it from you, all this time, but there are no accidents to the subconscious mind. Your manager... Such a distinguished man, isn’t he? A wise, older man who always seems to be ready to guide your career down to the smallest details, even the way you dress, the men you date...
- DONNA:
I...I don’t understand...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And the script...surely a famous young woman like yourself must have dozens of projects to choose from, but this script just leaped out at you, didn’t it? It just seemed to burn itself into your mind until you knew you had to do it?
- DONNA:
- (distant):
Yes, I’ve always loved the book. Ever since I was fifteen, when I first—
- DONNA:
Ohhhh....
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Exactly, my dear. You don’t want to be like Trilby because you want the part, you wanted the part because you want to be like Trilby. All your life, ever since you’ve read that book, you’ve been shaping the pattern of your life towards this moment. Your manager was just a substitute, a stand-in until you could find the man who could truly, deeply, thoroughly dominate your thoughts and your mind. The way I can. The way I will.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And you’re already hypnotized now, Donna, and you don’t even know when it happened. I didn’t need to do a thing, Donna. I just told you what you wanted to hear, what you needed to hear, and you did it all yourself. You want this. You want to give yourself to me.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Good girl. Every time you obey, it reminds you how much you want to obey. Every time you obey, it makes it easier for you to obey. Every time you obey, you want to obey more. The more you give yourself to me, the more you want to give.
- DONNA:
...want to give...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Want to obey.
- DONNA:
...want to obey...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Now, remove your clothes for me.
- DONNA:
I...I mustn’t, it’s...my manager said, bad for my career...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Remember the image of Svengali in your mind, Donna. Who is more like him, your manager...or me?
- DOCTOR KELLER:
It’s so hard to think now, isn’t it, Donna?
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Let me help you remember what you most want, Donna. You want to be Trilby. To be Trilby, you must play the part. To play the part, you must understand the role.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
To understand the role, you must obey me. So to get what you most want, Donna, what you most want in all the world...you must obey me.
- DONNA:
...must obey you...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Remove your clothes.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Let me help you remember what you most want, Donna. You want to play the part. To play the part, you must understand the role. To understand the role, you must obey me.
- DONNA:
...must obey you...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Remove your clothes.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Remember what you most want, Donna. You want to understand the role. To understand the role, you must obey me.
- DONNA:
...must obey you...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Now, get down on your knees.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
So hard to think now, Donna. Try to remember what you most want, what you most want in all the world.
- DONNA:
- (beat)
I want...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
You want to obey me.
- DONNA:
I want to obey you.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And the only way to get what you want...
- DONNA:
...is to obey you.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. Now, play with your pussy for me.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And every time you obey me, it feels better to obey me. It feels even better, now, doesn’t it?
- DONNA:
- (her voice quivering)
...yes, feels so....unnnnhhh... feels so good, now...I must obey, want to obey...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
You’ve masturbated before, but it’s never felt this good, has it, Donna?
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Has it, Donna?
- DONNA:
Nnnnnno!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Obedience makes the pleasure all the better, Donna. Obedience makes the pleasure so much more powerful.
- DONNA:
...want to obey you must obey you...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Obedience feels better and better, the pleasure and the obedience are one and the same now. Obedience is pleasure. Say it for me, Donna.
- DONNA:
...obedience is pleasure...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Again.
- DONNA:
...obedience is...ohhhh... pleasure...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Again until I tell you to stop.
- DONNA:
...obedience is pleasure; obedience is pleasure; oh, oh, ohhhhbedience is pleasure; obedience is...
- DONNA:
Pleasure! Obedience is pleasure! Obedience is pleasure! Obedience is pleasure!
- DONNA:
Obedience! Is! Pleasure! Obedience! Is! Pleasure! OhhhHHHhhhbedience! Is! ...is...pleasure...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Gently now, Donna, gently. Just let the words sink deep into your brain, locked into your deepest self. Let them re-order your every thought, so that all your other thoughts flow from it. The most important thing you know, the center of your very self. You want to obey me, so you must obey me, and obedience is pleasure.
- DONNA:
...pleasure...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Lie back, Donna. Eyes open, but seeing nothing until I command it.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it, Donna? To be utterly lost in pleasure, lost in my powerful eyes, helpless and mindless and aroused...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
And it just makes you want to obey more, your mind is so open and it feels so good that you want to open yourself to me. You need to open yourself to me.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
More and more open, feeling better and better. You feel it, you know it, you want to let me shape and mold your mind, your thoughts, your very soul. You want to give yourself to me, Donna. Completely. Totally.
- DONNA:
yes please please own me please...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Opening to me more and more. All of your own desire, Donna. All your deepest desires are turned to helping me control you, Donna, and it feels so very...very...good.
- DONNA:
...so open...so good...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
See how pleased I am with you, Donna. See how aroused you have made me.
- DONNA:
...i please, i obey, obedience is pleasure, i...i...iiiiii!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good girl, Donna. All the programming locked deep into your sleepy mind, just where you want it to be. All your thoughts buried and blank, swept under in a tide of perfect obedience and perfect pleasure.
- DONNA:
Perfect pleasure...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
So open for me, and the more you open the better it feels...tell me what you want, Donna.
- DONNA:
I want to obey.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
What is the most important thing, Donna?
- DONNA:
To give myself to you.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
What is obedience, Donna?
- DONNA:
Pleasure.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Good...good girl, Donna. Good girl.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
- (conversationally)
I really should feel bad about this, my dear. After all, it does reinforce the whole “sinister hypnotist” stereotype. I’m sure that once I become your manager, the gossip papers will call me “your Svengali” even without knowing that the facts back them up.
- DOCTOR KELLER:
But as I said...I am a tremendous fan of yours.
- MISS BLAKE:
Donna, have you finished with Doctor Keller yet? Only we’ve got—
- MISS BLAKE:
Oh my god!
(beat, as she stares in shock)Oh, my god! Oh, this is simply a disaster! I can’t believe you’d—Doctor Keller, I expected better of you! We talked in great detail about the importance of propriety in regards to Miss Gunn!
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Ah, the charming and accommodating Miss Blake! So good of you to join us. And yes, we did talk in exhausting detail about propriety, didn’t we? (beat) Can you remember any of the things we actually said, Miss Blake?
- MISS BLAKE:
- (confused):
I...I’m not sure, I remember you saying something, something important...
- DOCTOR KELLER:
Accommodate me, Miss Blake.
- MISS BLAKE:
Yes, Master.