The Prodigy by Gary Cottle

I like to think this is a still from a recently rediscovered film from the ‘60s that was never released because of its subject matter. It’s about a shy young college student named Max who loses his cool summer intern job in the city at the last minute and has to spend the next three months with his grandmother. The grandmother lives in an isolated seaside village in Maine, and she has offered to pay Max to do yard work.

The boy is quite depressed and lonely until he meets an odd young man of about the same age in the local cemetery. Max is usually awkward around strangers, but much to his surprise, he feels completely at ease with Philip…even though Philip is preoccupied with death and frequently speaks of ghosts.

Philip begins taking Max on tours of supposedly haunted locations in town. Philip taxes Max’s patience with his maudlin theatrics, and the two boys quarrel. Philip finally admits that he doesn’t really believe in ghosts, but he wants to believe because he can’t bear the thought that death is truly the end.

On his last night in town, Philip talks Max into breaking into the deserted Drake mansion, a huge Queen Anne Victorian that sits on a high bluff overlooking the Atlantic. Philip explains that the Drakes died in an accident the year before. The house is empty except for a baby grand piano in the front parlor. Philip never mentioned having any musical abilities, but that evening, he sits down at the piano and plays the most beautiful and melancholic sonata Max has ever heard.

The boys admit they are attracted to one another and make love for the first time. Afterwards, Max notices that Philip has become a little sad and asks him what’s wrong. Philip says he was thinking about Max going back to school. Max promises to come visit Philip the first chance he gets. Philip thanks Max and gives him a kiss, but he doesn’t seem to really believe they will see one another again. The boys decide to sleep there in the Drake mansion, so they hold onto one another and grow silent. Just as Max is about to drift off, Philip tells him in a strangely urgent voice that life is short and that he can’t let anything or anyone hold him back. He makes Max swear that he’ll make the most out of his life.

The next morning, Max wakes up alone. Philip is not to be found, so Max returns to his grandmother’s house. The grandmother is upset, but Max apologizes and explains he spent the night with a friend. Since Max is about to leave, the grandmother lets it go and asks Max in a calmer voice where he was. Max tells her he was in the Drake mansion. The grandmother tells him it was tragic what happened to the Drakes the summer before. Their breaks went out, and their car went over the bluff. Their son was with them, a prodigy who had been accepted at Juilliard. Max asked what the son’s name was. Philip, his grandmother said.

Story: by Gary Cottle
Model: Frederik Meijnen