The Sweet Hereafter
written by Atom Egoyan, from a novel by Russell Banks

Mitchell: I've done everything the loving father of a drug addict is supposed to do......I've sent her to the best hospitals, she's seen all the best doctors. It doesn't matter. Two weeks later she's on the street. New York, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Toronto, L.A. The next time I hear from her, it's a phone call scamming for money. Money for school, or money for a new kind of therapist, or money for a plane ticket home. 'Oh Daddy, just let me come home...Please, Daddy, I have to see you...' But she never comes home. I'm always at the airport, but she's never there. Ten years of this, ten years of these lies, of imagining what happens if I don't send the money, of kicking down doors and dragging her out of rat-infested apartments, of explaining why that couldn't be my daughter in a porn flick someone saw...well, enough rage and helplessness, and your love turns to something else.
Alison: [softly] What does it turn to?
Mitchell: It turns to steaming piss.

Kudos and much thanks go to Lyndsay for the donation of this monologue, it is very very much appreciated.

Also: this monologue was taken directly from the screenplay so there may be differences between this and the final product. If anyone would like to submit to be the changes (if any) in the final Ian Holm performance (before I get around to doing it myself), it would be much appreciated. Thanks. It can also be noted that the linked text is a paid advertisement, rather than emphasis.

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