Poppy
A creative young woman, suddenly dismissed from her mundane job is startled when an alternate version of herself appears and invites her to confront the colourful inner life she has so far kept hidden.
A homage to director Satoshi Kon’s anime classics Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress.
Sarah has just finished the long commute back to her apartment for the last time.
The sun is almost down and the biting cold of a mid winter evening is starting to set it. She trudges up the last flight of stairs to her fifth floor apartment, struggling to hold her heavy box of possessions upright. A watercolour painting of a poppy flower sits at the front of the clutter. She searches for the key in the depths of her coat pocket, the box tips slightly.
She goes to put the key in the lock, but a strong gust of wind knocks her off balance. She fumbles the key and drops the box. Her handbag spins around her shoulder. She watches in dismay as her painting flies out over the railing.
The painting is suspended momentarily against the city backdrop.
The fading sun simmers behind the skyline. She lunges at her painting, but the paper floats playfully out of reach. Sarah’s face drops – why has the universe got it in for her so badly? Self-pity morphs into anger. Today has already taken so much from her, but she refuses to give up the painting.
The painting dances alongside the fifth-storey walkway.
It teases it’s way back towards the apartment block. Sarah stands on tippy toes, eager to see if there is a chance to reclaim it. The moment nears as the painting sets to coincide with the end of the walkway. Sarah sees her chance and dashes to the edge, the paper within reach.
She uses her off hand to steady herself against the railing then extends out as far as possible. Once again, her painting floats just out of reach, seemingly enjoying itself as it wafts down towards the streets below.
This time, Sarah allows defeat to set in.
She sighs, looks downward and tightens her grip against the railing with both hands in frustration. She slowly rejoins the cold night, turning back towards the direction of her apartment. Somethings catches her eye from the city below. She hesitantly looks back out over the railing into the distance.
Sarah squints and catches an illumination unlike the neon lights that are scattered throughout the quiet neighbourhood below. It’s brighter and flickers in and out from the figure it’s surrounding.
She doesn’t quite believe her eyes.
Sarah pauses to make sure her vision is properly focused. An illuminated woman stares back. She’s similar in age to Sarah, about the same height and shares her facial features. In fact, she is Sarah! The only feature that’s different is her hairstyle.
She’s levitating slightly above the ground, hands behind her back. The elderly people, grocery shop workers and tired commuters passing by don’t seem to notice her at all. Sarah rears back from the railing in disbelief.
Sarah’s doppelgänger smirks back confidently.
She slowly pulls a hand out from behind and lifts it upwards as if balancing a plate. She holds this pose for a moment as if performing. A red flower grows out from her palm.
It’s luminance glows brighter than the woman’s surrounding glow. It Sarah’s not mistaken, it’s the same flower as the poppy in her painting.
The doppelgänger raises the flower higher towards the sky as if it’s an offering to Sarah.
She then pulls her hand back towards her lips, leans forward and blows softly into her palm. The poppy hovers up as if being tickled, floats back down a little, before blinking out of sight. It reemerges storeys above the ground, shooting through the air in a straight line towards Sarah.
A few petals fly off. She can only make out a faint red smear inside the illumination as it zooms towards her. There’s only seconds to react and she’s spent one of them.
Sarah leans back from the railing and raises a forearm to protect herself.
A meter from impact, the poppy expands rapidly to the size of an inflated balloon. Sarah ducks for cover. The flower bursts, sending petals showering into the air like fireworks. Sarah stands up, lowers her guard then stares through the luminous debris back down towards her doppelgänger.
The doppelgänger leans forward, hands behind her back, a cheeky grin across her face.
She spins on her heel and skips out of sight behind the grocery store on the street corner. A trail of over-sized poppy leaves are suspended in her wake.
We cut to a charming pedestrian-only shopping street, early evening.
People are taking their time perusing the store fronts. It’s almost closing time. Sarah bursts on to the street. She loses her footing and slides toward the asphalt. An elderly man minding his grandson stops to see if she’s OK, but Sarah is fixated on the end of the street.
Suspended poppies mark the path towards her illuminated doppelgänger. The doppelgänger winks back at her through the crowd before skipping out of sight once again.
Sarah picks herself up and runs down the street.
She has to see up close if this woman is real!
