Confessions: Phone Booth Series

Second, the sniper forces Stu to acknowledge the consequences of his wrong decisions. At first, he cannot understand why this has happened to him and he is told, “If you have to ask, you’re not ready yet.”

Later, the voice intones, “You are guilty and therefore take responsibility. Your sins have been noticed. Life has given you your fair share. Deception can’t go unrewarded.”

It continues, “Your choices still jeopardise other people. When are you going to realise that?” The caller teaches him a lesson when he goes back on his word, telling him: “You can’t know the pain of betrayal until you’ve been betrayed”. Ominously, Stu is told, “Your sins have finally caught up with you.”

Third, Stu is offered redemption as the voice always gives him a way out: “You could confess your sins and beg for absolution,” he reminds him. The voice explains that he is doing “all this to get you to do what is right… I’m offering you a chance to redeem yourself. Humble yourself in front of your loved ones,” he commands. “Tell Kelly about the real Stu.”

Clip Two: Confession Time

Stu is in the phone booth. He’s looking flustered, upset. Nothing like the confident PR man who walked into it minutes earlier to call Pam. “Your sins have finally caught up with you,” says the sniper.

“Tell me what you want!” begs Stu.

“What everyone wants: for the bad guy to get what he’s always deserved.”

Police, following the shooting of the bystander, surrounds him. And there’s a gun in the phone booth, planted by the sniper. Unless Stu confesses ‘everything’ to the watching media, Stu will be forced to pick up the gun, thus provoking the police marksmen to shoot him.

The sniper tells Stu that he’s talking “prime time material, now”. “So no more excuses or half truths… TV seems to bring out the worst in people, so you should be fine.”

Stu is perplexed, though, at this call to confession. What has he done that makes him any worse? He’s just a publicist who fantasises about pretty little actresses; he hides himself behind expensive suits, and doesn’t waste his time being nice to people who aren’t useful to him.

“I know your crimes,” interrupts the sniper. Tell them!”

So, Stu leans out of the booth, and looks at the cameras all lined up, alongside the TV cars and officers and reporters and public. He sees his wife, Kelly. And then he turns and sees Pamela. Both are there, as he begins to list his ‘crimes’:

“I never do anything for anyone unless they can do something for me.”

“I string along an eager kid because he looks up to me.”

“I lie to the magazines, papers and my friends.”

“I feel that I need my expensive clothes, because underneath I feel like the Bronx.”

“My $2,000 watch is a fake and so am I.”

“I should be alone.”

He talks directly to Kelly.

“I’ve been dressing up as something I’m not for so long. I’m so afraid you won’t like what I am underneath. But here I am, I’m just flesh and blood and weakness. I love you so much. I take my ring off [when I talk to Pam] only because it reminds me how I’ve failed you. I don’t want to give you up, but it may not be my choice anymore. You deserve better.”