A TINY DEATH - a synopsis

 

 

      A TINY DEATH is an unconventional love story about two young people who spend far too much time hurting themselves to ever consummate their feelings for each other.   The script features a cast of troubled twenty-somethings who struggle to come to terms with themselves; and I would describe this as more of a character piece about people who are by turns amusing and tragic. 

 

      We are first introduced to the main character, CLAIRE, a beautiful but eccentric painter who takes perverse pleasure in suffering pain. For her, to experience pain is to experience what it is to be alive. When we meet her, she is dating a young assistant agent by the name of REDMOND, a real go-getter who takes no pleasure in Claire's sadomasochistic games.

 

      We then meet our other main characters, CLAUDE and ELAINE. Claude is a photographer friend of Redmond who, upon meeting Claire, begins to obsess about her. Elaine is a bartender friend of Claire's, a very practical young woman who doesn't seem to have much luck with men. Claire, on the other hand, has altogether too much luck with men.

 

      The screenplay begins as Redmond, unable to attend a party with Claire, asks Claude to accompany her. He doesn't trust her with other men (considering her track record for sleeping around) and he wants Claude to keep an eye on her. Claude is all too willing to get to know Claire and he meets her at the party. The party in question is held by Paul, a Rastafarian who supplies Claire with drugs. Paul invites Claire and Claude to partake of some ecstasy with him; and Claude, who has had problems with drugs in the past, reluctantly agrees.

 

      Claude falls ill and Claire nurses him back to health. As a result of her ministrations, Claude begins to fall in love with her. He thinks of her as an angel, though anyone else in their social circle might tell him that there's nothing angelic about her. He takes drugs as a way of getting closer to her; but, in his mind, she is merely a vision just out of reach.

 

      Claire has taken an interest in Claude, as they have much in common, including certain masochistic tendencies. But Claire refuses to acknowledge her feelings for him and encourages Elaine to spend time with him.  She thinks that Claude and Elaine would make a lovely couple, but Claude and Elaine never seem to click. And whenever Claude is with Elaine, he devotes most of the conversation discussing Claire and her well-being. Elaine begins to feel tenderness towards Claude, but she worries that Claude feels nothing for her and everything for Claire.

     

      Claude begins to spend much of his time with Paul, and he begins to explore the magical properties of angel dust (PCP). He loses any focus he might have had and  dissolves into a self-loathing state of mind. He desires Claire as if she were some sort of salvation, as if only she could prevent him from hurting himself.

     

      Claire dumps Redmond because he fails to satisfy her masochistic needs and she meets a peculiar young man, and a self-proclaimed vampire, by the name of THE COUNT. He takes Claire home with him and threatens to kill her; but it's his perverse desire merely to dress up in women's clothing for her.  The proximity to death is intense for her, and its such experiences which make life exciting enough to be worth living. But the Count is another disappointment to her. Everyone and everything seems to bore her.

 

      But Elaine sets Claire up with a mysterious musician by the name of Trent, a man who is involved with a possessive woman by the name of Vivian. Trent and Claire are fascinated by one another and for the first time in ages she finds herself a truly compatible sexual partner, one who takes as much pleasure in hurting as she does in being hurt.

     

      Claude spends more time with Paul who, despite the fact that he's involved with a quirky young woman by the name of SOPHIE, takes an interest in Claude. Paul prefers spending his time with Claude to spending it with anyone else; and he believes that Claude understands him and his need to be more affectionate with men. Claude falls deeper into what could become a drug dependency.

     

      Elaine, frustrated that Claude prefers the company of Claire to her company, encourages Claire to spend more time with Claude. Always the matchmaker, Elaine arranges for Claire to paint Claude in the nude. Claire does so and agrees to let Claude take nude photos of her. During this time, Claude begins to reveal his feelings for her, but she dismisses them. Claire is too smitten with Trent to take an interest in anyone else; but she does have a definite affection for Claude. But she believes that they have too much in common to make a good match.

     

      Vivian, jealous that Trent is spending so much time with Claire, attacks Claire and cuts Claire with a knife. Trent beats Vivian; and Vivian must eventually accept the loss of a man she would have willingly died for. Vivian reluctantly steps aside so that Trent and Claire can spend time together.

     

 

      Elaine makes another attempt to get to know Claude, but Claude is too far-gone with drugs to pay her much heed. She is upset to learn that Claire revealed the truth about a sexual encounter Claire had with her; and she assumes that Claire is attempting to lure Claude away from her. Elaine confronts Claire and offers Claude to her.

 

      Claude, after a bad trip, visits Claire to see her while she recovers from her run-in with Vivian. Trent becomes jealous and believes that Claire is seeing Claude behind his back. He beats Claire; but Claire says nothing about this to either Claude or Elaine. Claude becomes even more concerned for her well-being and can't keep away from her. He visits again, only to incur the wrath of Trent who then beats Claude. Claire, always sympathetic to those who suffer, protects Claude from Trent and takes Claude away. She tells Trent that she can't stay with him anymore. She doesn't like the ides of Claude getting hurt. She feels protective towards him just as Claude feels protective towards her.

 

      Claude and Claire spend time together and she finally admits to having feelings for him. Claude doesn't ever want to leave her; and he wants to make her happy. But Claire has a perverse death-wish, and only Trent can help her to realize such a fate. She's attracted to Trent because she doesn't know what to expect from him; with Claude, she feels safe. But love is danger for her, and she, naturally, returns to Trent.

     

      Claude returns once again to see her, and Trent, believing that Claude is bothering Claire, knocks Claude unconscious. Claire rushes to protect Claude and once she feels certain that Claude is fine, she begins to provoke Trent's wrath. She does what ever she can to make Trent angry, as if in an attempt to secure this death-wish of hers. Trent beats her to death as Claude watches helplessly. Once he realizes what he's done, Trent, now chastened, runs away. Claude embraces Claire as if she were still alive.

     

      We last see Claude and Elaine finding comfort in each other's company. They both knew Claire better than anyone else, and they miss her, but this is a new beginning for them.