“Who else was gonna love me?…” – Mary Jones, Precious

I’ve written about it in my blog before, but I’ll say it again. I absolutely love Mo’Nique’s performance as Mary Jones in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”. Her rant scene is just amazing. My website is probably one of the few that has the full transcript of the rant posted on it, cuz people seem to keep finding it on Google searches and stuff. There’s apparently one Brazilian dude/chick who loves the rant so much that he/she visits my page every other day. To my Brazilian friend: Olá, meu amigo! Te amo!

My other favorite scene from “Precious” is when Mary finally admits to Miss Weiss, portrayed by the incomparable Mariah Carey, my musical Mother Dearest, that she has been abusing Precious. Mo’Nique is so vulnerable in this scene that you can’t help finding yourself feel compassionate towards her. You end up understanding why she has been so evil towards Precious. Clearly she is mentally ill, and clearly she too has suffered from what has happened to her and her child. Sadly though she didn’t see any other way to deal with her boyfriend’s abuse other than to shut up and let things happen the way they did, then abuse Precious even further.

Here’s the video of the scene at the welfare office where Mary Jones breaks down. You’ll have to click on the image to view the video, cuz the person who uploaded it disabled embedding. Below the video is the transcript. Prepare for a good, long cry…

Ms Weiss: OK, Mrs. Johnston, let’s talk about the abuse.
Mary Jones: There wasn’t no drugs in my house. I didn’t play that. There wasn’t no drugs in my house. Precious knows I will whoop her ass if she gon’ bring some drugs up in my house.
Ms Weiss: You know what I’m talking about… I’m referring to specific sexual and physical acts involving Precious.
Mary Jones: Why you ain’t say that?
Ms Weiss: Yes, that.
Mary Jones: … Well what, well what you wanna know?
Ms Weiss: According to Precious’ files, she has now had two children by your boyfriend, the late Carl Kenwood Jones, who is also her father.
Mary Jones: … Uhum… Yeah.
Ms Weiss: This is accurate?
Mary Jones: … Yes, Miss Weiss.
Ms Weiss: I need to know why you’re here. You’ve been calling this office, saying you want to be reunited with Precious and your grandchild. Now I really need to know what’s going on in that home.
Mary Jones: Miss Weiss I understand what you’re discussin’, but I’m just tellin’ you, you said I’ve been callin’ here, and I’ve been wantin’ to see Precious and my grandson, you Goddamn right I wanna see ‘em cuz they belong to me. OK? Now there was a time when Precious had everything, and I done told her that. And me and Carl, we loved Precious. And you need to know that. We loved Precious, and we had dreams. Precious was born around the same time Miss West’s son got killed. December time. She was born… December time, remember, remember that?
Precious: I was born in November.
Mary Jones: November… Yeah. That’s right. My Scorpio child… You know… Scorpios, they can… They can be tricky… And I’m not sayin’, I’m not sayin’ that they lie. I’m not sayin’ that. But you just gotta watch ‘em…
Ms Weiss: Can, can we talk about the actual acts of physical and sexual abuse that occurred in your household. When it first began, where it happened, and how did you respond.
Mary Jones: … Precious was a little girl.
Ms Weiss: Try and remember how old you think she was.
Mary Jones: … She was three… And I had been givin’ her the bottle, and I was givin’ Carl the titty, because my milk hadn’t dried up in my breasts, but not from her, but because Carl was (ehem) because Carl was suckin’ on them. And that’s what kept my milk in my breasts… And I thought that that was for hygienes… I did what my mother told me that I was supposed to do with my child. So that’s what I did, and you’re sittin’ up there and you tryin’ to judge me, and you…
Ms Weiss: I’m not judging you, but you’re asking me for money, and you’re asking me to be reunited with your grandson.
Mary Jones: Well, Miss Weiss, I don’t like you lookin’ at me like that. You got this bitch lookin’ at me like I’m some kinda fuckin’ monster…
Ms Weiss: We don’t talk like this in my office, OK?
Mary Jones: I didn’t want her suckin’ behind him because that was nasty, and the things that he was… it was just nasty, Miss Weiss… I, I… I had a man, and I had a child… And I had to take care of both of ‘em… OK?… Did I want Carl… to touch my baby?… Because I would lay my baby… I would lay her on the side of me, on this pillow… and it was pink, and it had this little white writin’ on it and it had her name… cuz she was Precious. And I would lay my baby on that pillow, and Carl would be laying on the other side… And then, we would, we would start doin’ it, and he reached over… and he touched my baby, and I asked him, I said “Carl what are you doin’?” And he told me to shut, to shut my fat ass up, and it was good for her.
Ms Weiss: And what did you did then?
Mary Jones: I shut my fat ass up… And I don’t want you to sit there and judge me, Miss Weiss.
Ms Weiss: You shut up and you let him abuse your daughter.
Mary Jones: I did not want him to abuse my daughter, I did not want him to hurt her.
Ms Weiss: But you allowed him to hurt her.
Mary Jones: I didn’t want him to do nothin’ to her. I wanted him to make love to me. That was my man, that was my fuckin’ man, that was my man, and he wanted my daughter… And that’s why I hated her, because my man, who was supposed to be lovin’ me, who was supposed to be makin’ love to me, was fuckin’ my baby, and she made him leave. She made him go away.
Ms Weiss: So who’s fault was it then?
Mary Jones: It’s this bitch’s fault because she let my man have her, and she didn’t say nothin’. She didn’t scream, she didn’t do nothin’. So those things she told you I did to her, who-who, who else was gonna love me?… Hmm?… Since you got your degree, and you know every fuckin’ thing, who was gonna love me? Who was gonna make me feel good? Who was gonna touch me and make me feel good late at night, and she made him go away. So when you sit there and you write them fuckin’ notes on your pad about who you think I am and why I did it and all of that… because I didn’t have nobody…
…
Mary Jones: Uhm… the people… from… Each One Teach One… they had, uhm, they called me, and… they told me that my baby was writin’ poems. In fact you know what I got, wait a minute…
…
Mary Jones: I’m sorry… I’m sorry. Miss Weiss, I don’t want no checks, I don’t need no more money. Please, I’m, I’m so sorry.
Precious: I took that TABE test again.
Ms Weiss: What happened?
Precious: I scored a 7.8. Last time it was 2.8… Accordin’ to that test, I’m readin’ at a 7th and 8th grade level. Next year, high school. After that, college… I, I like you too. But you can’t handle me. You can’t handle none of this… You know, I never knew what you was until this day. Not even after all the things you did. Maybe I was too stupid, maybe I just didn’t want to know. You ain’t gonna see me no more…
Mongo: Bye!
…
Mary Jones: I didn’t want him to hurt my baby… Please, God, I didn’t want him to hurt my baby. Miss Weiss, I didn’t want him to hurt my baby. I did, I, I would say to him, I would say, Carl, what you doin’ what you doin’ what you doin’ what you doin’… Mm-mm, mm-mm… mm-mm… Can you go get her back? You can do that, because that’s what you do. That’s what you do. I need you to go, and I need you to get my, my baby back. You told me that I could come in here, and you were gonna get, mm-mm, you were gonna get Precious to stay. Miss Weiss, Miss Weiss, Miss Weiss…

The Oscar was well-deserved. Congrats, Mo’Nique!