Film Treatment

Film Treatment

Newly turned 25, Freya Smith walks down the aisle on what’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Staring in the face of Satan himself, she begins to descend down the aisle, plastering on the face of joy she has had a life time to practise…. (Flash Forward)

(The nursery rhyme playing in the background)

Ladybird, Ladybird

Fly away home,

Your house is on fire

And your children all gone;

All expect one

And that’s little Ann

And she crept under

The warming pan.

 Freya Smith (Alexandra Daddario) is the love child of Charles Smith and his mistress Nicola Moore living in the wealthiest part of London, in the mansions of Knightsbridge. She grew up being resented by her siblings and stepmother, the original Mrs Smith. Freya was the spitting image of her mother (being a constant reminder of the deceitful act her father had committed) with raven black hair that was formed into perfect ringlets, so indifferent to her siblings sun kissed skin and honey tinted hair. Her father was a notorious womanizer, bringing random women back almost every weekend which didn’t go unnoticed by Mrs. Smith. Due to the absence of her father in her younger years, Freya’s older siblings would be in charge, constantly using her as a rag doll, forcing her to fight with her brothers for practice. A few years down the line, it was the night of Mr and Mrs Smith’s 15th wedding anniversary which started off smoothly, guests indulging in the free food and free drinks, as the night progressed Mr. Smith became too ‘handsy’ with the other females which caused an argument to break out between the couple. The hysteric Mrs. Smith lit a candle and threw it on the Persian curtains that hung in the east wing, in a matter of minutes the Smith Mansion was engulfed in flames.

Freya was the sole survivor of the tragic fire that killed her entire family and destroyed the only place that was ‘home’ to her. Her deceased family was branded to be a state, an embarrassment to the community, leaving Freya more isolated and alone than ever before. In one of the hostels in which she had inhabited, she is approached by two girls claiming that she had stolen their blanket; the squabble started off small, with only harsh words being flung at each other. Then one of the girls throws a punch knocking Freya to the floor, memories of the abuse she would willingly take from her brother’s began to flood her mind. Slowly standing up, Freya takes both girls out not giving them the mercy they end up begging for. The next morning as Freya gets ready to leave she is approached by four other girls who praise her on her fighting skills from the previous night, the introduce themselves as Cass Collins (Natalya Rudakova), Keira Lin (Jamie Chung), Erin Thomas (Keke Palmer) and Harriet Jones (Sara Paxton), they ask her where she plans on going and invite her to join them on their day/night out.

As times goes on Freya begins to adopt their habits and quickly adjusts to the lifestyle the other girls lead. Their main objective is to steal to ensure their survival. Cass begins to date Michael, a drug dealer that works for one of the five most feared gangs in London, the “Stoneheads”. Cass begins to become more violent and starts to assault members of the public when they do their daily rob, the other girls believe the change in her behaviour stems from her new addiction to Cocaine and Ketamine. On confronting her, Cass explains that she wants to move up in ranks and become a real gang and that the ‘Stoneheads’ will train them in areas of combat, knives and guns.

As they start to train and fight alongside Stoneheads, they eventually become included in the gang. The rest of the girls (excluding Freya and Erin) adapt and begin to enjoy their new lifestyle, thriving off the new power they ‘believed’ to possess. The girls had simply become pawns in the Stoneheads plans, at the snap of a finger the other three girls would obey and follow through on jobs given to them. One night Enzo (Jesse Williams), leader of the Stoneheads commands that the girls dance for the male company they have around. Freya and Erin refuse to participate, resulting in a beating which they both don’t back down from. Erin pulls out a pocket knife and lunges for Enzo, the tip of the knife gently grazes him only ripping the t-shirt, he pulls a gun from his back pocket and shots Erin in the temple. Then he orders for the girls to clean up the mess. 

Throughout the months leading up to Freyas wedding, she hardly leaves her room and barley eats, not caring about the bruises and scarring that scatter her body, she began to simply waste away. On the day of her wedding everyone is surprised to see the effort she has made, as she begins to walk down the aisle alone she re-collects the memories of her father, her absent mother and her closet friend Erin, wishing she were here. Everyone waits in anticipation for Freya to say ‘I do’, instead she gives a sickly sweet smile to the guests and retrieves the gun from her garter, shooting Enzo dead in the eye.