Script Analysis: ‘I’m Your Woman’ — Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Script Analysis: “I’m Your Woman” — Scene-By-Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: I’m Your Woman (2020). You can download the script here.

Written by Julia Hart, Jordan Horowitz, directed by Julia Hart.

Plot Summary: In this 1970s set crime drama, a woman is forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners, sending she and her baby on a dangerous journey.

I’m Your Woman
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Priya Gopal
GoIntoTheStory.com

4–7: We get introduced to Jean, a blonde woman, and Eddie. We learn they were gonna have a kid but then didn’t. Every morning, Eddie leaves the house and Jean stays at home.

Jean relaxes in the garden, she wears a golden watch and a silk robe and notices the store tags attached to it. She goes inside the house to cut if off. Right then, Eddie, a handsome white man, walks in and holds a baby in his arms. It’s their baby boy. He doesn’t explain where and how he got the baby. It’s up to Jean to give him a name.

7: Jean sits with the baby on a bench in the park and watches other children playing.

8–10: It’s morning. Jean takes care of the crying baby and prepares a bottle, Eddie walks in and plays a little with the baby. Jean prepares an egg for Eddie, and when the baby doesn’t stop crying, she holds it on her hip while serving Eddie some burnt toast and only one egg (the other fell onto the ground). Eddie is cool with it.

The door bell rings. Eddie says he won’t be home tonight and he opens the door. Jean sees some men and when Eddie catches her watching, he closes the kitchen pocket doors.

10 -13: Jean is asleep at night and awakes when she hears knocking sounds. She opens the door and there is Jimmy,a middle-aged man, he holds a gun in his hand. He is one of the men who came earlier to the house. He tells something happened tonight and they have to go. Jean doesn’t get any time to pack her stuff. Jimmy looks in her closet and finds a small leather duffle and a shoe box filled with money. He puts the money, 200.000 dollar, in the bag. Jean is confused what is happening. Jimmy tells her she will work out with Cal where to go. Jean doesn’t know who Cal is and wants to know where Eddie is. Jimmy says Cal will manage how the money is spent but she needs to hold onto it and give him 10000 immediately. Jimmy doesn’t answer any of Jean’s questions and tells her to go with the kid.

13: Jean leaves the house with the baby on her hip and the bag in her other hand. Jimmy is standing in the door opening, with a gun ready for whatever comes. Outside waits Cal, a handsome black man, in a light blue car. He helps Jean and the baby get in and they drive off.

14–16: Cal, Jean and the baby are in a motel room. The baby is crying, Cal is preparing the room for tonight and Jean is talking to him, saying she doesn’t know him and what is going on, meanwhile the crying grows and Jean doesn’t know what is going on with the baby. Cal takes the baby from Jean, puts his little finger in its mouth and starts rocking it gently. The crying stops. Jean wants to know if Cal has kids and he says no.

They spend the night there, Jean and the baby on the bed.

16–20: Jean, the baby and Cal sit in a diner and have breakfast/lunch. Jean wants to call Eddie but Cal says she can’t. He’s there to keep her and the baby safe. Jean reveals the baby’s name is Harry. Jean wants to know what is going on. Cal reminds her that Eddie is a thief and that this is her life. Eddie got in trouble and he is supposed to keep her safe. Jean is frustrated that nobody gives her a straight answer and that she is supposed to trust a stranger. Cal says Eddie picked him out of all the men. He used to work for him. Cal doesn’t know how Eddie is doing and how long they are going to stay away. All he know is that he got the call and her address. Jean can’t go to her sister or to other people. When Jean presses to let her call Eddie, Cal says she can’t call him because no one knows where he is. Everyone is looking for him and her. Jean realizes the danger and she wants a nice house near a park

20: They go to a bargain store and buy clothes for Jean and the baby. Cal drives them to another motel. Cal smokes an unlit cigarette while he drives. He explains it isn’t lit because someone told him it’s not good for him.

21–23: They spend the night in the motel, Cal on the floor and Jean and Harry on the bed. This time, Jean made Cal’s bed on the floor ready. Jean feeds the baby a bottle and Cal offers her to go away if she wants to breastfeed him but she declines. Jean asks Cal why she didn’t know him if he used to work for Cal. He’s asleep and doesn’t answer.

In the middle of the night, Jean wakes up Cal, something is wrong with the baby. She wants to go to the hospital but Cal says that is not a good idea when everyone is looking for her.

23 -25: Harry’s in the hospital. He’s got a small IV needle into his hand. The nurse is talking to Jean when the hospital adminstrator asks Jean if her name is ‘Mary Clarke’ and she says yes. The nurse and administrator have a private talk outside the room. Cal is waiting in the waiting room, he sees the administrator talking to the nurse and then looking at him. He moves to the window and sees a police car pulling up.

Cal goes to Jean and Harry, he removes the IV and takes them with him. They walk quietly past the nurses station, ignore a nurse calling them and take the lift downstairs. Right before the entrance, they pass the police men but they don’t notice them. They make it out safely and drive off.

26–29: Cal, Jean and the baby fell asleep in Cal’s car which is parked at the side of the road.A white police man knocks on their window. The cop ask Jean if she’s okay and he puts his hand on his holster. Cal says everything’s cool but the cop wants to hear from Jean and she says the same. Jean and Cal touch the baby’s head. His fever broke. The cop orders them to get out of the car. The cop questions Jean if she’s allright and if Cal isn’t bothering her. Jean makes up Cal is her husband and they had to take a break while they were moving to another home. They fell asleep. Jean assures him it won’t happen again. The cop let them go. Jean is surprised she could lie like that.

30–32: They arrive in a suburban street with little houses. They enter one little house. There is new stroller, the kitchen is stocked, there is a television, there is baby food, diapers, some medicine if the baby gets sick. Jean’s bedroom is upstairs. There is a telephone in the drawer in the nightstand. If there is an emergency, she needs to take it out, plug it in and call a number. Cal gives her a piece of paper with the number on it. Cal says she is not allowed to talk to anyone.

Jean has never been on her own and wants Cal to stay but he can’t. He’ll be back when he can. Jean gives him a stack of money before he leaves.

33–37: We see scenes of Jean baking brown scrambled eggs, having breakfast with Harry, watching TV, cleaning the oven, checking the freezer, soothing Harry, her ironing a dress. When Harry cries, she goes for a walk with him. When it’s dark and Harry is asleep, she feels the urge to call the number, and hangs up after a few rings.

We see another day, Jean folds some clothes, then has as a TV meal. Someone knocks on the door. Jean is afraid, she finds the number she needs to call but the phone is upstairs, then a woman’s voice says it’s the neighbor. Jean opens the door a bit. It’s Evelyn. She introduces herself and says that her old friends used to live there. Jean says her name is Mary. Evelyn lives two doors down the street. She gives Jean a small potted plant. Jean doesn’t invite her in.

Jean smoke a cigarette on the fire escape. She can see Evelyn’s house from there.

38–40: Another day in Jean’s live. She tries to soothe crying Harry. In the evening, the cracks an egg, but the yolk breaks. After a second try, she throws an egg at the wall, and a few others. Then, knocks on her door. It’s Evelyn. She’s got lasagna and a bottle of wine with her. They have dinner together. We learn that Evelyn is lonely since her daughter moved away. She feels that Jean is exhausted and asks if the baby sleeps well at night. Jean admits she’s tired. Evelyn asks what happened to Jean’s husband and Jean doesn’t answer. Then she asks where the bathroom is. Jean finds that strange because her friends used to live here. Evelyn says she’s getting old. Jean gets anxious when she hears Evelyn moving upstairs. Suddenly she appears as if nothing is wrong. Evelyn leaves after dinner.

41–46: Harry cries. Jean goes for a walk with him in the stroller, she walks past Evelyn’s home and sees the lights are on. She goes back to home and lays Harry in bed. When she walks down the stairs, the front door is open. She hears noise. She goes back to Harry’s room and hears footsteps downstairs. She takes Harry to her own room, she grabs the phone, hides in the closet and calls the number. No one answers. She tries again, a busy signal this time. Harry starts crying, meanwhile someone is coming up the stairs. Jean sticks her finger in Harry’s mouth and he starts sucking. Jean climbs out of the open window onto the fire escape, she runs across the yard and hears someone is following her. She goes to Evelyn’s house and in through the back door. She finds Evelyn gagged and tied to a chair in her living room. A tall white man appears and holds a gun at her and asks where Eddie is. She doesn’t know. Harry cries. Another white man enters from the back. Harry keeps crying and it grows louder. She has to bounce him while she stands. They let her and Harry quiets down. Then, suddenly, gun shots and both men are dead. It’s Cal. He asks her to cover Harry’s eyes and he takes out Evelyn.

47- 49: In the car, Jean argues he didn’t have to kill Evelyn. Cal didn’t like it but he did it to protect themselves. Cal told her ‘no people’. The baby cries, he’s hungry. Cal instructs her to feed him. Jean says she can’t. They buy baby food at the drugstore and she feeds him.

49–54: In the middle of the night, they sit in a roadside diner. Jeans tells Cal she can’t have children and they couldn’t adopt due to Eddie record. Eddie got the baby from a young girl what was in trouble and he paid for everything.

Cal asks if the baby laughs and Jean says yes, especially when she sings a song of Aretha Franklin and ends a line with ‘aaahoo’. She sings it and Cal joins in. They smile. While the song plays, they drive at night through the woods and end up at a cabin.

54–57: Jean, Harry and Cal settle in the cabin. It’s got a fireplace, table, chairs, cans of food, a small bed, old family photographs and old books. There is no phone and there’s never been any trouble but in case, there’s a small crawl space below the cabin if she pushes the table, chairs and rug away. This was Cal’s hiding place when he was a kid.

Cal is not staying. Before he leaves, he tells Jean that Eddie killed the boss and his guys killed Jimmie the night they left her house. Jean is convinced Eddie would never kill anyone and Cal tells the truth, Eddie has been a killer for a long time. Jean realizes Cal has someone and he leaves.

57–59: We see Jean walking through the woods with Harry, Jean pumping water from a well with Harry on her hip, Jean on the porch, Jean and Harry sleeping in the small bed, Jean cooking eggs and warming up peas, Jean trying to light up the fireplace while Harry plays on the floor.

59–60: Jean wakes up when she hears the sound of an engine. It’s an old pick-up truck and it’s not Cal. As fast as she can, she hides in the secret space and tries to quiet Harry who is crying. A young black boy finds them. Then, his mother Teri, a beautiful black woman, stands next to him. He’s Paul. Soon Art, an older black man, follows with bags and an old crib. Teri is Cal’s wife.

61–62: Jean helps Teri unpack the bags. She finds out Art is Cal’s dad and that Teri knew Eddie. Jean wants to know more about Cal’s and Eddie’s relationship but Teri doesn’t tell much. Teri tell Jean not to worry about Cal. Later, Jean watches how Teri chops the wood for the fire place.

63–64: Crying Harry wakes Jean up in the middle of the night. She wants to make a bottle when she sees that Art is rocking Harry and he quiets down. Now she knows where Cal gets it. Art says that Teri’s first husband was no good. Jean wants to feed the baby but Art tells her they don’t eat in the middle of the night.

64–66: They all have dinner at the table. Teri tells when Paul was little they had to live in an old hotel for a while, the St. Francis, because it was safe for them. It’s a place for people to fix their lives. It’s black owned and operated. Jean realizes they were hiding. Art tells he bought the cabin when Cal was 5.

67: Art takes Jean to the woods and shows her how to use a gun.

68–69: Jean asks Teri why Art showed her how to use a gun. Teri says there were some guys outside their apartment and that’s why Cal sent them away. He would follow them. Jean should be prepared for what comes next.

Jean says she figured out that Eddie was Teri’s first husband and ask her if Eddie did the same to Teri. Jean believes her situation is worse since they have a kid, Teri disagree. Jeans says Eddie hadn’t told her he was married before.

70: Jean practices on her own using a gun.

70–73: We see Teri and Jean on the porch, watching the road. They are waiting. 
 At night, everyone is doing something busy. At night, Jean wakes up Teri. They go outside for a talk. Jean is convinced they should go find Cal and Eddie. Something is wrong and she is worried. Teri tells she was gonna leave when everyone was asleep. She knows Cal is in trouble. Jean insists going with her and Teri agrees, but she wants Jean to trust her. Everything she does is to keep themselves safe.

Jean kisses Harry, takes one sock of him that had fallen off with her and says goodbye to Art and leaves with Teri.

74: Teri and Jean are parked and look at Teri’s old apartment. The light in their window is off. Teri gives Jean a small pistol to keep it in her pocket all the time. Teri tells they are going to a place to find Cal but it’s not safe there. Jean must listen to her and not tell anyone who she is.

75–80: Jean and Teri are in a nightclub, dressed accordingly. Jean plays with Harry’s sock while Teri is talking to a big man. He takes them to the back room. There is white Mike. Teri goes talking to him and instructs Jean to stay there and keep to herself. Teri and Mike meet.

The big man says to Jean he never thought he would see Teri again. Jean is curious how he knows her and he says she used to be married to someone he knows. Jean mentions the name of Eddie but denies she knows him. The big man says Teri took everything from Eddie but he made a new life and a new family and kept them away from this.

Teri wants to leave with Jean because something is going down. Jean wants to talk to her that Paul is Eddie’s son but it’s not the time. Teri lead them down the way but Jean doesn’t give up on the subject. Suddenly they hear gunshots from the nightclub. They hurry towards the backroom but the door remains closed.

Teri pushes Jean into a phone booth in the hallway and orders her to stay there. She disappears among a throng of people. Meanwhile, more gunshots, people running, and she sees the gunmen going towards the backroom. She sees the big man is dead and she decides to leave the booth. There is chaos in the club but she makes it out alive. She walks down the boulevard and doesn’t look back.

81–82: Jean walks down a big street, it’s busy. She pats her pockets, the tiny sock is gone but the small gun is still with her.

The sun rises, the city is waking up and it starts raining. Jean is soak wet and hides in a laundromat. There she lets it out and cries. A woman comforts her and someone gives her a towel.

83 -85 : Jean enters the St. Francis hotel. Without looking up, the hotel manager sends ther to room 12 upstairs. There she finds down the hall Teri. She says she came back for Jean but she was gone.

Teri tells Jean soon she found out what Eddie did, she wanted to leave and he promised her he would stop but he didn’t. Cal was Eddie’s guy and they started to confide in each other and fell in love. They hid in this hotel from Eddie. When they left, Eddie found them. He let them go but under the condition that one day Eddie would call and Cal wouldn’t be able to say no. They thought they had their life back but then came the call. Mike is a bad guy but going to him was the best option to get the word out to Cal. He will find them.

86–87: They get a phone call and go downstairs. The hotel manager says two men are in the front and she takes them to the back where they leave. Teri and Jean split. Teri urges Jean not to stop no matter what she hears. Teri walks around the corner of the building. Jean hears gunshots but she keeps walking.

88–89: Jean enters a coffee shop and finds Cal in the back. Teri isn’t there yet. She tells that Paul and Harry are with Art. Cal is hurt in the belly. He says that Eddie is dead. He was dead before he got there. He is worried about Teri. Finally, Teri is there. Teri and Cal hold each other tight and kiss.

90–102: Teri steals a car. Cal instructs her to stay of Central, he doesn’t trust Mike. Someone is following them. Teri tries to ditch the following car and believes she succeeded. Then suddenly, the car shows up again and they crash. Their car is crushed at the front, the other car is flipped over. There is a lot of blood and glass. Jean is the first one to move. Teri and Cal don’t answer when she calls their names. Before she can reach out for Teri, Mike shows up and opens the car, and pulls Jean out of it. She cries for Teri. He puts her in the back seat with another guy. The other guy wonders who this is and can’t shut up. Mike gets annoyed and shots him dead. Mike wants to know where Eddie is and Jean says he is dead. He pulls his gun on her and demands she tells the truth. Jean feels the small gun in her pocket and shoots Mike dead.

She pushes Mike’s body away and gets behind the wheel. She drives to the wreck. She finds out Teri is alive. She drags the other man’s body out of the car, wipes her pistol and puts it in his hand. She pulls Mike’s body out of the car and leaves it on the street.

Next, she helps Teri out of the car and puts her in the back. She goes back to Cal. He doesn’t react to her voice. She tries to move his body but he is too heavey. Then, Teri shows up and she helps her. Together they get him in the back of the car. Teri feels he’s alive. Jean drives away and says she killed Mike.

99–103: They reach the road to the cabin and stop at the top of the hill. Something is not right. There is a dark car with open doors in front of the cabin, and next to it a dead body.

Jean drives towards the cabin and Teri gives her a gun. Jean approaches the cabin carefully. The window is shattered, bullet holes in the walls. Inside is another dead man and Art is also dead. She remembers the hiding place and there she finds Paul holding Harry in his arms. She helps them get out and tells Paul to close his eyes and he is not allowed to look back when they at in the car. They walk to the car. Teri hugs Paul and Cal touches his hand. Paul sits in the passenger’s seat with Harry in his lap. When she starts the car, she wants to look back but Paul reminds her not to do that. They drive away.

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

To download a PDF of the breakdown for I’m Your Woman, go here.

Kudos to Priya Gopal for doing the scene-by-scene breakdown.

To see dozens more screenplay scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.