!!

September1, 2012

Before Midnight!!!!

Screenplay by!!

Richard Linklater!Ethan Hawke!Julie Delpy

FADE IN:

INT. AIRPORT - AFTERNOON

Jesse and 14-year-old Hank are walking through an airport inGreece.

JESSE So you got everything?

HANKMmm-hmmh.

JESSEYou going to play video games thewhole flight, or do you think youmight actually crack a book?

HANKProbably read some.

JESSEIf I write you an email, don't bescared to write me back, okay? Itwon't kill you to let your old manknow what you're thinking about andwhat's going on, you know?

HANKYeah.

JESSEIf we want, we could try Skypingonce a week or something.

HANKAll right...

JESSEYou got the drawings for your sciencedeal?

HANKYeah, think so.

JESSEAlright, well they turned out greatby the way. Like, really great.

HANKThanks.

They've arrived at the concession stand. Hank grabs a coupleof snacks.

2.

JESSEIs your computer charged?

HANKYeah.

JESSEWhat do you think's the first thingyou're gonna do when you get home?

HANKI dunno.

JESSEI really cherish this communicationwe have. You know, it's just - youranswers are so...

HANK(interrupting)

What?

Jesse is paying.

JESSEJust keep practicing the piano, okay? You're really good and they spend somuch time at that school of yours...just remember that music is actuallysomething you will use in your life. Right, and don't forget to - youwant those sesame things, right? They're really good.

HANKYeah.

JESSERight.

(to cashier)Yassou. Here you go. Thank you. Okay.

He gets the change and they head to the gate.

JESSE (CONT'D)I'll probably make it over there inOctober, you know? Try to see youin that first recital and thenhopefully catch a soccer game whileI'm there.

(to cashier)Efharisto.

3.

HANKI might not even play soccer thisyear.

JESSEOh, that'd be a big mistake. Trustme.

HANKI'm not that good.

JESSEOh, no, you're pretty good. Youare.

HANKI mean, I missed summer trainingcamp, so the chances of me startingare minuscule.

JESSEYeah, well, just tell the coach thesituation - your dad lives in Europe,you really wanted to be there, blahblah blah. Blame me. My parentsstink, but I'm really serious.

HANKBut I'm not serious, Dad. I don'tcare that much.

JESSEWell, you don't have to decide rightnow. You know, just think about it. All I'm saying is that team sportsare important, you know?

They've arrived at the security line.

JESSE (CONT'D)Here we are. I love this airport,don't you?

HANKIt's awesome.

JESSEI know, it's cool, right? You excitedabout seeing your mom?

HANKYeah, and all my friends.

4.

JESSEYeah, right. What about your boardingpass, passport...? Okay. You feelconfident about making the connection?

HANKYeah, I've done this before.

JESSEYeah, but not with a tricky connectionlike this. Just remember, when youland, you stay in your seat. Somebodyfrom the airline's going to come getyou and take you to the gate, right?

HANKIt's not a problem.

JESSEOkay. All right. Oh, boy. Well,looks like maybe we should just dothis thing, huh? Okay. Come here.

They hug.

JESSE (CONT'D)I'm gonna do my best to make thatrecital, okay?

HANKYou know, I wouldn't bother.

JESSEWhat makes you say that?

HANKLook, I'm not being mean, but it'dbe easier if you didn't come to therecital.

JESSEHow come?

HANKIt'd just be better if you visitedon another weekend.

JESSEBut... I want to see you play.

HANKLook, it's because Mom hates you somuch. She'd be really stressed ifyou were there, and then it'd betense for me.

5.

Jesse motions to the person behind him to go ahead.

HANK (CONT'D)We wouldn't have any time to hangout, anyway.

JESSEDon't worry about her, we'll figurethat out, we can... Just don't wantyou to worry about it. You know? Imean... you know how much I missyou, right?

Hank nods.

JESSE (CONT'D)Why do you think she still hates meso much?

HANKI don't know. I think she hatesDaniel more than she hates you.

Hank playfully punches Jesse.

HANK (CONT'D)Hey, don't worry about it. I'llfigure something out. We shouldjust do this though.

JESSEYeah. But I mean, is there anythingI can do to help?

HANKI don't know.

JESSEBut you know that I love you, right?

HANKYeah.

JESSERight, okay.

HANKYeah, I know. This has been thebest summer of my life.

JESSEReally?

HANKYeah!

6.

JESSEWell, me too. See, I told you, Itold you this whole Greece thing wasgoing to be great.

HANKAnd it was.

A final moment.

JESSEOkay. All right. I love you, pal.

HANKI love you too, Dad.

JESSE Okay, shake my hand. All, right,go.

HANKBye.

JESSEBye. See ya.

(sighs)

He goes into security. Jesse watches him walk away, andthen slowly heads toward the exit.

EXT. AIRPORT - AFTERNOON

We follow Jesse back through the airport as he finds his wayto the parking lot, revealing Celine, standing outside ofthe car, talking on the phone.

CELINE(speaking french)

Oui, oui.(continues in french)

Okay.

As Jesse and Celine settle inside the car, the camera pansover toward two 6-year-old girls who are asleep in the backseat. That's right, twins NINA and ELLA. They start drivingaway from the airport.

INT. CAR - AFTERNOON

As they hit the highway, Celine lowers her volume as shewraps up her conversation. 

7.

CELINE (into phone)

Okay. Bon. Très bien. Merci. Oui, oui, Lucia. Au'voir.

(hangs up, speaksfrench)

JESSEWhat's going on?

CELINEThey voted against it. 

JESSEWhat, the wind turbines?

CELINESix months dealing with those people,they were all for it. Everyone agreedit was great for the region...

JESSEOh. So what happened?

CELINE...And now they've decided that theydon't like the way it looks on thathill. It's ruining their view.

JESSENo, no, I thought it was a done deal.

CELINEIt was! It practically was--

JESSEWell, can--

CELINEThat's what's so infuriating.

JESSECan they do that?

CELINEYes, of course. They've done it. That's it. It's over, fini.

JESSEI'm sorry.

CELINENo, no, it's just so frustrating. Ican't take it anymore.

(MORE)

8.

CELINE (CONT'D)(beat)

I'm gonna take that job with Remy.

JESSENo. No, you don't want to work forhim.

CELINEWhy not?

JESSEFor the government?

CELINEWell, I think this government isdifferent. We need laws. That'sthe only way anything is going tohappen.

JESSEIt's not the only way. You guyshave been getting a lot of good workdone.

CELINEWell, I've been thinking about it. This is the way to go.

JESSEOkay. Well then, let me remind youthat you do not like that guy. Thewhole time you worked for him before,you complained about him constantly.

CELINEYeah, yeah, yeah. He can be anasshole, but he gets things done. That's how I'm gonna be from now on--

JESSEOkay.

CELINEA real bitch, okay? That's it.

JESSEOkay. Well every time I look atthat guy, all I see is ambition. Imean, I'm sorry, I just don't trusthim. The only reason he's goingfrom non-profit to government is tohave people kiss his ass.

9.

CELINEI don't care about him, okay?

JESSEAll right, and I think you're gonnabe miserable, all right? Just withall that politicking and compromising--

CELINEWhatever. I've made my decision. I'm tired of being the do-gooderthat rolls a boulder up a hill andwatches it roll down again.

JESSEIsn't he the guy that used to throwhis pens at his assistant and stuff?

CELINEOkay, I should have taken this job ayear ago. You know, and I was scaredbecause of the amount of work, but Ithink it's the best opportunity everand it's more money and... I'm doingit.

JESSEOkay. Are you sure?

CELINENo, I'm not sure of anything, okay?

JESSEAll right, all right--

CELINEI mean, you know, what's gonna happento everyone if I leave? LikeFrancoise, and I mean, they count onme. What do you think? Should Itake it or not, should... Should I?

JESSEAh, no, no, no, I don't have anopinion. I just don't want to seeyou rush into a decision because ofthis wind turbine crap.

CELINENo! It's not just that, okay? It'sbeen stirring in me all summer...

JESSEWell, I know it has. I know.

10.

CELINE...And I should do it. And I'm doingit!

JESSEAll right then, just - then do it.

CELINEI'm doing it, all right? Oh, god. I wish things were simpler. I mean,if I leave I get fucked, if I stay Iget fucked...

JESSE(laughs)

There's always a catch.

CELINEYeah, the world is fucked.

JESSEYeah, baby.

CELINEOh, god. We finally have a vacationand the girls are sick for the firsttwo weeks.

JESSEOr the perfect son who lives a millionmiles away.

CELINEOr the love of your life can't cleanup after himself or learn how toshave.

JESSEWho's that? You're not, you're nottalking about Captain Clean-up overhere, are you? You don't mean--

CELINECaptain Clean-up! The one that'sbeen missing in action all theseyears!

JESSEWhat did you expect at this point inyour life, missy?

Celine turns back to look at the twins.

11.

CELINEGod! Oh, look at them; they're socute! They look like conjoined twins! Oh my god, I gotta take a picture.

She takes out her cell phone and takes a picture. Jessereaches back for something he can't quite find.

JESSEHey, did uh, did Ella finish thatapple?

CELINEYou're going to take food out ofyour child's mouth?

JESSEYeah.

Celine reaches back and grabs a half-eaten apple off theseat.

CELINEOkay. Well. It's all brown.

JESSEOh, there's a spot here.

He takes a bite from the green part of the apple. Celine isnow filming him with the camera.

CELINEElla - this is evidence of your fatherstealing food from you. If you becomebulimic or anorexic, it is not myfault. Don't blame it all on yourmother, okay?

JESSEElla, this is a family apple. I'mteaching you the value of sharing. I love you honey.

CELINEOhh, so sweet. You girls willremember this vacation verydifferently than we will.

JESSEThat's for sure. I see that with mymom. She remembers my childhoodentirely differently than I do. Canyou please stop filming me.

Celine puts the phone away.

12.

CELINEGod. I love your mom. You're alwaysso hard on her.

JESSEIt's because you missed the fuckedup years. You're just getting thegood era.

CELINEThe "fucked up years." That remindsme, talking about fucked up... did Iever tell you the story of my littleCleopatra kitty? No? Okay, I thinkyou would remember if I did. When Iwas a little girl I had this catnamed Cleopatra and every spring shewould jump the fence and get pregnantand always end up with a litter ofexactly two kittens.

JESSETwo kitties?

CELINETwo kitties. Every time, every year,two cats. I mean it was just...amazing. Then one day, I was around30 and I was having lunch with myDad, I was remembering, mentioninglittle Cleopatra and he was like -'the hardest thing I ever had to dowas to kill those cute little kittens'-and I was like WHAT? It turns out--listen to this--there were sometimesup to 7 kittens in that litter--

JESSEOh, no.

CELINEBut he would take five of them--

JESSEOh, no.

CELINE--Put them into a plastic bag with abunch of ether.

JESSE(laughs)

That's terrible.

13.

CELINEHe had forgotten the lie he and mymom had told me as a kid.

JESSEHow did he decide which ones he wantedto kill?

CELINEWell, I actually asked him that. Did you take the fluffiest, cutest? He just started to cry.

JESSEOh.

CELINEPoor Daddy.

They realize they're driving by some ancient ruins.

CELINE (CONT'D)Oh, we said we were going to stop. They wanted to see the ruins.

JESSEYeah, but should we?

CELINEWell, Ella really wanted to.

JESSEYeah, but should we wake them up?

CELINEI don't know.

JESSEYou know what, let's do this. Onour way back to the airport we cancatch them.

CELINEYou know we won't.

JESSEYeah, probably not.

CELINEOkay.

JESSEWe'll be like, so long, ancient ruins! What's so great about you anyway?

14.

CELINEPsh! Seen one, seen them all! Ohmy god, we are shitty parents. Weshould have stopped.

JESSEAw, it's okay.

CELINEIt's culture. Come on, go back.

JESSEAh, we gotta put some character inthese kids somehow, you know what Imean?

CELINEYeah, yeah.

JESSEWe're teaching them a valuable lesson,you know. You snooze, you lose inthis world.

CELINEAnd when the girls are in rehab,recovering from ten years of addictionto coke and speed, they'll say, "oh,we just never felt comfortable goingto sleep because our daddy alwaysused to tell us, "you snooze, youlose." And that'll be your faultagain.

JESSE(laughing)

Okay, okay. Well, we are shittyparents.

CELINEI know.

JESSESaying goodbye to Hank sucked.

CELINEWhy, was he upset?

JESSENo, no. He said it was the bestsummer of his life.

CELINEWell, that's great!

(MORE)

15.

CELINE (CONT'D)I mean, I wouldn't worry too muchabout him. We spoke a bunch, andyou know what his main concerns inlife are?

JESSEWhat?

CELINEPimples and how girls perceive him. The apple doesn't fall far from thetree, I guess.

JESSEWhat do you mean? I'm not like that.

CELINEOh, please!

JESSEWhat?

CELINEThat's all you think about!

JESSEWhat?

CELINEWomen! I mean--I'm not complaining. I'm getting a lot of attention. Butyou never stop ogling girls.

JESSEI don't ogle girls.

CELINEYeah you do.

JESSEI don't ogle girls!

(sexy Spanish accent)I make love to them with my eyes.

CELINEOh, wow.

JESSEYeah.

CELINEI like the Spanish guy. Or is itGreek?

16.

JESSE(Spanish accent)

I don't know where I'm from, but I'mvery hairy.

CELINE(laughs)

Well, I think... You know, Henrymight have, you know.

JESSEWhat?

CELINEThat little Melina girl.

JESSEI don't know. He had a crush but...

CELINEOh, are you kidding?

JESSEWhat?

CELINEWhy do you think he said it was thebest summer of his life?

JESSEBecause he and I had a good timetogether?

CELINEJesse...

JESSENo, huh? So what, you think they...you think they what--

CELINEOf course.

JESSEYou think they kissed?

CELINEYeah, they kissed! Yeah, yeah. Okay, I was sworn to secrecy but hetold me. They kissed. Okay.

JESSEWhat'd he say?

17.

CELINEI'm not supposed to tell you anything,so I'm not gonna talk but--

JESSECome on.

CELINEOkay. He told me he was worried -you know, concerned about the kissing. You know, tongue, no tongue.

JESSEWhat, he asked you that?

CELINEYeah. But he was so - he was socute. All nervous, all red, bitinghis cheek like when he was little. So cute.

JESSEWow. So he and Melina were a realthing.

CELINEYeah.

JESSEWhat's gonna happen now?

CELINEI don't know. They must be friendson Facebook, so they'll keep in touch,at least for a while.

JESSEHey - what if they end up spendingtheir whole life together? You know?

CELINEYou're so corny! Sometimes I'm justlike -

JESSENo, I just - I mean -

CELINEWhat are you, a twelve-year-old girl?

JESSEI'm just, it's -

18.

CELINEI mean, first love, do you evenremember who it was?

JESSEUh, yeah, I do. It was you.

CELINEOh, please. Like you were a virginat twenty-three. I don't -

JESSENo, you said "first love", not firstsexual experience, okay?

CELINEOkay. Fine. Like I'm the firstwoman you ever fell in love with?

JESSEYeah. Pretty much. The first one Ifelt truly connected to. Sure.

CELINEI don't think so.

JESSEWhat, I wasn't your first love?

CELINE(beat)

No, of course not.

JESSEOh. No, I just - I thought I was.

CELINENo!

(laughs)Jesse, stop this. It's dumb.

JESSEIt's okay, it's okay. It's not abig deal.

CELINENo? Okay. How old are you? Comeon!

JESSEI'm forty-one and I have loved onlyyou.

A beat of silence, then they both laugh.

19.

CELINEYou are so, so working on our littlenight, aren't you?

JESSEHell yeah. I've got a Trojan in mybillfold and a rocket in my pocket.

CELINEI'm stuck with an American teenager. Can't believe it. Do we have to doall that stuff later?

JESSEWhat? Oh, yeah, come on. It meansa lot to Patrick. Ariadni andStefanos are probably already thereprepping, the kids wanna have onemore big time together - it's gonnabe fun.

CELINENo, no, no, but I meant the hotel,later. I just, I'm not sure I wantto go -

Her phone rings. She picks it up.

CELINE (CONT'D)(into phone)

Hi, sweetie. Yeah. Oh, okay, okay,okay, okay. Well, well, it's fine. It's fine! Call me from London. Have a good flight. Bye.

Jesse gestures for the phone, but she's already hung up.

JESSEBut - but -

CELINEThey were telling them to turneverything off, they were about totake off and I asked him to call mefrom the plane; you know, I don'tlike when he flies.

(a beat)What?

JESSEI don't - I dunno. I dunno. *

(sighs)I just don't think I can keep doingthis.

20.

CELINEWhy?

JESSEJust every summer, every Christmas,you know, it's like -

CELINEI know. It makes me ill every time.

JESSEIt just wouldn't be so bad you knowif I - like if we were sending himto boarding school or something. Just - I dunno. ...If his mom and Igot along a little bit better.

CELINEI know. It's like we're sending himback across enemy lines.

JESSEI know. It really hit me this time,you know? I mean, he's going to bea freshman in high school! Fourmore years and then he's gonna be onhis own.

CELINEWell, maybe that's the good news. We only have four more years of this.

JESSENo, no, no. This is the crucialtime. I just feel like I should bethere for him. Like it's now ornever, you know?

CELINENo. What do you mean?

JESSEI guess I just thought somehow he'dend up living with us. Somewherealong the way, you know. Now time'sgoing by so fast and here we are! It's high school, you know. There'sgirls... next thing you know it'scollege applications.

CELINEYeah, you're right! Maybe it's time. I mean... I really think it's time.

(MORE)

21.

CELINE (CONT'D)Just tell his mum all this and askif he can come and live with us. He'd love it, we can put him in thatbilingual -

JESSEThat's never gonna happen, all right? She's never gonna give me one thingthat she's not legally obligated to.

CELINEDo you want to call that lawyer again?

JESSENo. I don't like that guy. He'sterrible.

CELINEShould I call his mother?

JESSEUh, no. Please. Never again.

CELINENo, I know.

JESSELook, he doesn't even know how tothrow a baseball.

CELINEWho cares?

JESSEHe just... he leads with his elbow. He throws like a girl.

CELINEThat's not your fault.

JESSENo, it is my fault. A father issupposed to teach you that.

CELINEOkay, he just doesn't like baseballdoes he? Who can blame him.

JESSENo, it's an example, okay? It's ametaphor for everything. He's turningfourteen and he needs his father.

22.

CELINEJesse, I'm not moving to Chicago.

JESSEWell, did I ask you to?

Celine rolls her eyes.

JESSE (CONT'D)Where'd that come from, huh? I'mjust thinking out loud. I mean,this is the one thing I promisedmyself I would never do and I lookup and I'm doing it.

CELINEWell... listen, you're a wonderfulfather. He loves the relationshipyou have, he loves the letters yousend him and he -

JESSEHe doesn't even read the lettersthat I send.

CELINENo, of course he reads them; he justdoesn't compliment the writing theway you want.

JESSEI just know that if I miss theseyears, they are never coming back.

CELINEOh, my god.

JESSEWhat?

CELINEThis is where it ends.

JESSEWhat're you talking about?

CELINEThis is how people start breakingup.

JESSEOh, my god. What'd you just... youjust jumped off a cliff.

23.

CELINENo, no. I'm marking this. This isthe day you light the ticking bombthat will destroy our lives.

Jesse laughs.

CELINE (CONT'D)Yeah. Watch.

JESSEOkay. Well, first off, you don'tlight a ticking bomb, okay, you setit and it's a timer -

CELINEOh, okay, whatever! Whatever, okay.

JESSE- That's why it ticks.

CELINEIt has a timer. Well, you know what? It's ticking. Right now. And thisis how it happens.

JESSERight.

CELINEYou're unhappy, you blame it on theother person, resentment grows,everything slowly rots and you breakup. That's it.

JESSEYou're just doing this to shut meup.

CELINENot at all. Not at all!

JESSEI know you are. That's what you'redoing. Yeah.

CELINENo-no-no-no. I'm actually surprisedwe lasted this long.

JESSEOkay, Okay. So here comes thehyperbole-

24.

CELINEWe were on parallel tracks for awhile but now our tracks have crossedand I'm going west and you're goingeast. And believe me, this is howit happens. I've seen it, okay? Catherine Alexander -

JESSEYou're kidding, right? You'rekidding.

CELINEWell, no! I'm kidding. And I'mnot. All right?

(beat)Just - this is it.

As Celine talks, the girls wake up. One of the girls, ELLA,groggily says:

ELLAHow much longer to the ruins?

CELINEOh, they were closed.

JESSEYeah. Sweetie, you know what wedecided, we're gonna catch them onthe way back, when we're going tothe airport.

CELINEExactly.

JESSEOkay?

CELINEWe'll leave early, right? Yeah.

JESSEYeah. Yeah.

ELLAWhat happened to my apple?

CELINEYour apple. La pomme, elle etaitfini, cette pomme. Right?

25.

EXT. FISHING VILLAGE STORE - AFTERNOON

They pull up at a small store in a coastal fishing villageand start getting out of the car. Celine is speaking inFrench to the girls.

CELINEGive me the list.

JESSEI don't have it.

CELINEIt's in your wallet.

JESSEOh.

CELINEIn your wallet.

JESSEOkay.

He gets out his wallet and hands it to Celine. She pullsout the list instantly.

CELINEVoilà!

She turns to the girls.

CELINE (CONT'D)Okay, I'm the General! Captain Nina,

(tells her what to doin french)

NINAOui!

JESSEWho made you General?

CELINEThe General, okay?

JESSEOh.

CELINECaptain Ella,

(tells her what to doin french)

26.

ELLAOui!

CELINEPrivate Clean-Up, you don't touchanything.

JESSEOui. D’accord.

EXT. ARRIVAL HOME - AFTERNOON

The car pulls up outside an estate by the shore. They getout and the girls sprint through the entryway.

EXT. PATRICK'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON

On the patio outside the house, a soccer game is going onwith Jesse and many other participants.

EXT. PATRICK'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON

At a wonderful seating area, PATRICK listens to a storyNATALIA is telling him.

EXT. PATRICK'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON

In a small garden, Celine, Nina and Ella pick vegetables. Celine has a nice moment where she's just looking at herlittle girls in nature, engaged with the earth.

CELINEThe red one.

ELLACela?

CELINETrès bien... Okay. Pepper.

EXT. PATRICK'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON

Jesse, PATRICK, and STEFANOS are relaxing at the far end ofthe patio where there's a beautiful ocean view.

STEFANOSI actually read them both. The firstone is called THAT TIME, the secondone is called THIS TIME.

JESSEThe first one is THIS TIME, the secondone is THAT TIME.

27.

STEFANOSYeah.

JESSEWe've got a joke in our family that"This" brought us back together and"That" paid for our apartment.

PATRICKOkay.

STEFANOSWell, it must be a little weird forCeline, man, the way she's in a booklike that, no?

JESSEWhy? I think she's gotten used toit.

STEFANOSBut the second one is sexy, man. When he misses the plane and theyblack out the windows and they havesex for days and days and days likethere's no tomorrow. I mean wow,did you guys actually do that?

Jesse shrugs his shoulders.

STEFANOS (CONT'D)You did that, uh?

PATRICKHave you read Jesse's third book? It's actually better than the firsttwo.

JESSEIt certainly took longer to writethan the first two put together.

STEFANOSNo, the third one I didn't read. Imean, my wife gave it to me but it'sjust a little bit too long for me,man. Even the title is long. What'sthe title?

JESSE"Temporary Cast Members of a LongRunning But Little Seen Productionof a Play Called Fleeting."

28.

STEFANOSWell, exactly my point.

JESSEAh, well, you're not alone. Everybodyelse thought it was too long.  

PATRICKIt's a better book. It's so muchmore ambitious.

(in Greek)The first two were so so.

STEFANOS(speaks Greek)

Really? Do you think?

JESSEWhat's that?

STEFANOSNo, he says he likes all the books. He does..

Jesse laughs.

INT. KITCHEN - AFTERNOON

Natalia, Ariadni, and Celine are sitting at a table in thekitchen, chopping vegetables.

CELINEI mean, I love it here. This placeis amazing. These tomatoes are soamazing. I can... I can smell them! They smell so good.

ARIADNIYeah, Patrick is very proud of them.

CELINEI know it's stupid but when we wereabout to leave Paris I was a littlenervous to come here. And now thatwe're about to leave, I don't wantto go.

NATALIAWhy were you nervous?

ARIADNIYeah, why was that?

29.

CELINEI don't know. This place is so fullof thousands of years of myth andtragedy and I thought something tragicwas going to happen.

NATALIAWhat, you thought the Minotaur wasgoing to eat your children orsomething?

CELINEYes. Exactly.

All three women laugh.

EXT. PATIO - AFTERNOON

Back with the guys...

JESSEAll right, well, the whole time I'vebeen here, I've been working on thisidea about a group of different peoplewith all these brain abnormalities. So the book would be like a day intheir life from all their uniquepoints of view, right? Like there'sthis older lady who has a conditionthat makes you feel like you're in aperpetual state of déjà vu. Everysingle experience she has, she feelslike she's had it before. I meanshe can be sitting here with us,talking seemingly functional right? And in her head, she's thinking: Didn't he already say that? I mean;weren't we here yesterday havingthis exact same conversation.

STEFANOSSo just like Deja Vu.

JESSEYeah, except all the time.

STEFANOSAh.

JESSERight, that's the thing, right? Everything she takes in. Breakfast,a newspaper, a movie. She's convincedshe's encountered it already.

30.

STEFANOSSo that's a real condition?

JESSEYeah. It's called persistent deja...It's real but I can't pronounce it.

The men chuckle.

JESSE  Then there's these two othercharacters with facial recognitionextremes. Like there's this one guyand he can't recognize his wife oftwenty years. He looks at himselfin the mirror and he feels thisdisconnect with that man he's lookingat. Then the other character is theopposite, middle-aged housewife witha categorical exacting memory ofevery face she's ever seen; so shelives in a big city but to her, it'sa small town. Like, a taxi drivespast and she thinks 'Oh, that's thedriver who dropped me off at Placede Vosges three Christmases ago.' And some old lady walking on thestreet, she thinks; 'Oh, she sat twoseats down from me on the Metro lastyear.' So, everyone she meets,toher feels intimate and connected.

 STEFANOSWell, I'm just like the first guy. Like I feel connected to nothingmost of the time, man.

We see Patrick's grandson, Achilles, and girlfriend, Anna,come walking by, just from the beach. Anna slaps his buttplayfully before heading indoors while Achilles joins theguys.

JESSE Oh, Achilles! Anna! Hey, you guys.

PATRICKHey, look at this kid. He's havingthe best summer of us all.

ACHILLESHello, Pappou.

STEFANOSSo you were saying... there's threecharacters, right?

31.

 JESSENo, it's not just three characters,it's a whole group of people. It'slike, I'm working on a chapter rightnow about a young Greek man namedAchilles.

ACHILLESMe?

 JESSEWell, he's named after you. Andthis guy is caught in a loop whereall he sees is the transient natureof everything, right? Like he looksout to sea and thinks of the dayit's gonna be dry and littered withfossils.

STEFANOSWell... I dunno. It sounds a littlepretentious to me.

 JESSEAh, no-no-no. It won't bepretentious, I promise. No, it'sgonna be funny. Really funny. Hepicks up a book and he immediatelywonders: Who's gonna be the lastperson to read this?

STEFANOSAnd that’s funny?

All laugh.

ACHILLESSometimes I kind of think like that.

STEFANOSWell, okay, so he doesn't get excitedabout tits, cars, booze, nothing. He just thinks about death.

 JESSEWell, not so much death, right? It's just like transformation, youknow. Like he's seeing too far intothe future.

STEFANOSOkay.

32.

PATRICKI like this idea for a novel. Butyou should add a character of an oldman like me - a poor sap who can'tremember what he had for breakfast,but he can still hear the song thatwas playing when Sheila Campbelldanced topless on the bar at Jury'swhen he was 14 years old.

JESSE That'll work.

 STEFANOSOkay. You have these people lost intime, right ok? But what's theconnection? Are they going to havesex? Don't you need something likethat?

JESSE It's not time that they're lost in,right? It's like perception. That'sthe deal. No, I'm thinking of settingthe whole novel at a movie. Like,every character in some way comes incontact with the film 'On theWaterfront.'

(to Achilles)Have you seen "On the Waterfront"?

He's not sure until Stefanos tells him the Greek title.

ACHILLESOh, with Brando!

JESSE Yeah.

ACHILLESUh-huh.

JESSE Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, the firstchapter of the book is openingweekend, Times Square, 1954. Thatold lady, with perpetual deja vuwalks into the matinee screening,right? Except the whole time she'sthinking: haven't I already seenthis?

STEFANOSYeah.

33.

JESSE Right. And then another chapter isa 1979 Paris film studies class. Then we have a Kazan retrospectivein Munich, 1993.

STEFANOSWell, man, that is time. How isthat not time?

JESSE Yeah, it's time but, it's moreperception. You don't like it.

STEFANOSI think it's going to be too long.

They laugh.

PATRICKWell, I like it. Don't listen tohim - he makes bicycles. Send it tome in galleys.

JESSE Will do.

EXT. PATRICK'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON

All five kids are playing a game together somewhere on theproperty.

INT. KITCHEN - AFTERNOON

Ariadni, Stefanos, and Celine are in the kitchen, preparingthe meal.

CELINEIn France we stuff the tomatoes withtomatoes and the peppers with peppers.

ARIADNIOh, really? Because we use the samestuffing for both, because of theway it reacts differently, in termsof taste. Oh, and Celine, make sureyou don't stuff them too much becauseof the way it overflows in the ovenlater and gets kind of nasty.

CELINEOkay okay, yeah.

STEFANOSYou're doing fine, Celine.

34.

ARIADNIAnd especially don't listen toStefanos here because he's nevermade this dish before, or any otherdish for that matter.

He takes her knife.

CELINE(Laughing)

Okay.

STEFANOSYou know, I mean...

ARIADNI AND STEFANOS(Yelling, SpeakingGreek)

STEFANOSLet go of me,

(Greek)Let go of me!

ARIADNI(in Greek)

Stefanos, why are you taking my knife? Stop stealing people's knives. Hereis a knife perfectly good for whatyou're doing.

STEFANOS(in Greek)

Sweetie, I cannot cut with this littlefucking knife.

CELINEAre you guys fighting, with knives? Okay, stop it! Stop fighting withknives.

ARIADNIWe're not fighting. We'renegotiating.

Anna enters the kitchen and goes over to the refrigerator.

CELINEOkay, negotiating, that's what youcall it? Wow,

(in French)Negotiating with knives.

35.

ARIADNI(in French)

Exactly.

CELINE(In French)

Not bad.

STEFANOSThis is a system that we have.

CELINEWow, so you found a system that worksfor you.

ARIADNIMm-hm.

CELINEI thought it was called arelationship. But I like "system",that's pretty good. That's ready,right?

Ariadni walks over and takes a drag off his cigarette.

STEFANOSThat's ready.

Celine takes a platter of appetizers and begins to leave.

CELINE(to Anna, in French)

And you, what's your system?

Anna gestures oral sex.

CELINE (CONT'D)(in French)

What about this system?

Celine puts her tongue between her fingers by her lips.

ANNA(in French)

Not bad.

Celine exits.

STEFANOSWe used to have that system.

Anna laughs.

36.

EXT. BEACH - AFTERNOON

Jesse leads the kids down the rock steps to the little patchof rocky beach under Patrick's house.

JESSE Not too far, you guys!

We catch a nice moment where Jesse is looking out at thesea, and at the kids, soaking it all up. He checks a textand the moment is gone.

EXT. DINNER TABLE - LATE AFTERNOON

Now in the middle of their dinner, Jesse taps his wine glassand gets everyone's attention.

JESSEAll right, I don't want to let thismeal go by without saying thank youto everyone. And especially you,Patrick. We had no idea what wewere getting into these last sixweeks. A letter arrives from theuniversity, inviting us to theSouthern Peloponnese of Greece, tothe guest house of a great writer? 'Sure, why not?' And then at theairport earlier today, Hank turns tome and he says this has been thegreatest summer of his life.

GROUP(Reacting)

JESSEAnd I have to say the same. So,thank you Patrick, and not just forwhat you have done for me and myfamily but for all the ways you'vegiven back, all right. So, toPatrick!

OTHERSTo Patrick...

Glasses clink.

PATRICKThank you, thank you, thank you. You know, when I first saw you atthe airport I thought, 'No way a mandressed like that could be a man ofletters.'

37.

GROUP(Laughing)

PATRICKBut now, now I think I've learnedyour secret. We've had many greatwriters here over the past decadebut never one who had a partner moreinteresting than themselves.

GROUP(Reacting)

Ohh. Oh. (Laughing)

CELINEI keep telling you.

PATRICKAnd Celine, it's been so great tohave you and your daughters' wonderfulvitality around here, and I'm sohappy you've been able to meet mydear friend, Natalia, who's husbandElias was like a brother to me.

CELINE(to Patrick)

I'm so sorry about the curtains.

PATRICKDon't worry. It's nothing.

JESSEI know. I shouldn't have thrownthose cherries-

CELINENo, I mean, really -

JESSEIt was my fault.

PATRICK/CELINENo, no. That's sweet of you.

ACHILLESAnd Grandpa, thanks for includingAnna and me this summer... becauseyou know he usually puts me to workbut when I bring Anna he lets me sitat the table of the grown-ups.

38.

JESSEWelcome to the grownups table! Hearhear!

CELINE(to Anna)

How long have you two been together?

ANNASince last summer.

ACHILLESWe met one year ago in my last fewdays here with grandpa before I hadto go back to Athens.

ANNAYeah, we met at my closing nightcast party. I was doing Shakespeareat Epidavros...

JESSESo, who did you play?

ANNAI was Perdita in "A Winter's Tale".

STEFANOSAnd she was fantastic! Remember,Patrick, we went to that?

PATRICKAhhh Perdita... "When you do dance,I wish you a wave of the sea, thatyou might ever do nothing but that."

GROUP(Reacting, Applauding)

Bravo!

STEFANOSThe way he just performed that wasmuch better than the guy at the play!

ACHILLESActually, people are still talkingabout that production.

ANNAYeah but... the after party was evenbetter. It's where we met.

ACHILLESI had an old BSA motorcycle.

39.

JESSENice.

ACHILLESYeah. We drove around all night. And then I had to drive her back tothe theater to get her stuff. Andit was dawn.

ANNAI'll never forget it. It's outdoorsand seats 12,000 people, but it wasnow completely empty.

ACHILLESYeah. And she was sitting way up inthe back row. So, I went up on stageand whispered to her...

ANNAYeah, the acoustics there areincredible. I could see his mouthmove and then, three seconds later,I could hear his voice in my ear.

JESSE(to Anna, quietly)

What'd he say?

Anna just smiles, not saying.

JESSE (CONT'D)Woah! Okay!

ARIADNI(Laughing)

That's private.

ACHILLESAnd then she had to fly back to Parisa couple of days later.

CELINEHow did you keep in touch?

ACHILLESWe Skyped. Pretty much everydaysince then.

ANNAYeah, and when we're apart we have athing of putting our laptops by thepillow and falling asleep together.

40.

CELINEAh, that's the new romance!

ACHILLESAnd when I wake up the screen isusually frozen... and Anna's face isin some funny position like...

(Mimes)

STEFANOSOkay. Can I ask you a question? Please?

ANNAYes.

STEFANOSWhen you guys Skype, do you, youknow, do you go a little crazy?

ARIADNIGod, you're being so vulgar!

STEFANOSNo, I'm not being vulgar. I'm justbeing an amateur anthropologist whois interested in virtual words, on atheoretical level.

ARIADNISo now you're an anthropologist?

STEFANOSYeah. For instance, the sex of thenear future, okay, and I'm not makingthis up but, it's gonna be just likeplugging in, attaching something toyour genitals - I'm sorry - and thenyou'll be having virtual intercoursewith anyone of your choice. Youwill be able to program in all yourpreferences. You'll be able to typein exactly what you want MarilynMonroe to whisper in your ear.

GROUP(Reacting)

Hm..

CELINEOh, I might like that.

JESSECome on.

41.

ACHILLESI mean, why not? I mean, more andmore of our experiences are going totake place in the virtual world.

ANNAYeah... And you are a writer, howare you going to feel when a computercan write a book better than "Warand Peace"?

PATRICKIt'll never happen.

ACHILLESI think it's only a question aboutWHEN it's going to happen, grandpa.

JESSEYou know, I think I'm probably gonnafeel about the same way as Kasparov -you remember how all those chessplayers felt when they could no longercompete with that big-ass computer -

STEFANOSThe Big Blue.

JESSERight, right, right! Remember atfirst nobody thought a computer couldever beat our best.

STEFANOSRight.

JESSE(Accent)

A machine lacks that ineffable humaninstinct.

GROUP(Laughing)

JESSEAnd now we can't even compete.

CELINEI saw this documentary where theywere doing an experiment on a labrat and he was wired up and he couldpush a switch and have an orgasm.

GROUP(Laughs)

42.

CELINEAnd so scientists were sort oflaughing at this pathetic littlecreature while it ignored its foodand water and didn't do anythingelse, and eventually it just died. I mean, I think that's the future ofhumanity. You know, just

(Demonstrates RatDying)

... And die.

GROUP(Laughing)

PATRICKWell, maybe so but every generationbelieves that they're witnessing theend of the world but... I feel thatI'm actually living it.

JESSE Okay. All right, I have a questionfor you Patrick. I think a lot ofpeople are feeling that way. Youknow, that we're this kind of pleasureobsessed, porn-addled materialists,ceding our humanity to technology... At the same moment that computersare becoming sentient, right? Sowhat my question is: what is thisnotion of self to begin with?

PATRICKIt's written over the portals to theTemple of Apollo at Delphi: It says"Gnothi seauton", which means "KnowThyself".

JESSE Yeah, but we're kind of 99% automatedalready. Our personality - or thisthing we think of as ourself right -it's just a tiny fraction of whatthe brain is doing, right?

STEFANOSYeah.

JESSEMost of it's just automated bodyfunction.

CELINEOkay.

43.

JESSESo then what is it we're actuallyceding?

CELINE(Interrupting)

If this notion of self is such asmall percentage of you, sweetie...

JESSEYes.

CELINEHow come I always hear so much aboutit?

GROUP(Laughs)

STEFANOSWell, it's just like my penis. Imean, it's not that big, it's a smallpart of myself, but it needs a lotof attention.

CELINEHis too!

ANNAAnd how did you two meet?

ARIADNIYou don't know?

ANNAWhat?

STEFANOSWell, you have to read Jesse's books.

CELINEYeah, especially if you want to knowexactly what it's like to have sexwith me, read away.

STEFANOSRead away!

CELINEOh, excuse me, Stefanos.

STEFANOSNo, no. I mean it's well written.

44.

JESSEThank you. We met about 18 yearsago. We kinda, sort of, fell inlove a little bit, and then we losttrack of each other and a decadelater we ran into each other.

CELINENo, no, no, we didn't run into eachother, sweetie-pie.

JESSEWe didn't?

CELINENo. You wrote a book "inspired" byour meeting...

JESSEYeah, yeah...

CELINEAnd I read about it and went to lookfor it.

ANNAThat's pretty romantic.

JESSEIt was really romantic.

CELINENot really. Not really. He neglectsto mention he was married, had akid...

JESSEDetails, details...

CELINEYeah, that part was a disaster.

JESSEIt wasn't a disaster. It wasinevitable.

CELINEYeah. Okay. And the first time wehave sex without a condom, twins!

JESSEYeah, one pitch, one homerun. Boom!

45.

CELINEAnd I've been chained to the sinkever since! I'm sorry to say that,but -

ANNAIt's not that bad, is it? The girlsare so beautiful.

JESSEThank you.

CELINEThey're cute.

GROUP(Laughs, Reacts)

CELINEOkay, no no, it has some upsides. Let me tell you right now, Anna, howto keep a man.

Anna nods.

CELINE (CONT'D)You've gotta let them win at all thesilly little games...

JESSEOh, okay.

CELINE... They like. When I met Jesse,the first night we were playingpinball, and of course I waswinning...

JESSEIs the foundation to our entirerelationship a lie? It is. It is.

CELINE... And at the last minute I let theball go down the middle. It buildstheir confidence.

JESSENo, she can't beat me at one game,not any game.

CELINEIf I didn't let him win at everygame... we would never have sex.

(MORE)

46.

CELINE (CONT'D)I mean, I'm sorry to say it, buthe's actually a closet macho. Hedreams of having a bimbo for a wife.

GROUP(Laughs)

CELINEDreams!

JESSEIt's my greatest aspiration. A bimbo,that's it.

Celine changes her demeanor and voice, playing really dumb.

STEFANOSWhoa!

CELINE(Baby voice)

So...

STEFANOSUh-oh.

JESSEYes?

GROUP(OS, Laughing)

CELINESo you're a writer?

JESSEYeah. Yeah, sure.

CELINESo you write like... books?

GROUP(Laughing)

JESSEI've written a few, sure. Sure,yeah.

CELINEWow. I've never met a writer before.

JESSE(Laughing Nervously)

Really. Yeah?

47.

CELINEYou must be really smart.

JESSEWell, I - you know.

CELINEYou know, I can't even write my ownname sometimes when I'm tired.

JESSEWhat kind of books do you like?

CELINEWell, I like stories with a meaningbehind them, like a really beautifullove story...

JESSEOh, sure, yeah.

CELINEYou know, I read this book once,"Romeo and..."

JESSE"...Juliet". Right?

CELINEYeah!

JESSEOh, yeah.

CELINEWow, you know it!

JESSEIt's very good, yeah. It's a playactually, not a book. A play.

CELINEOh, I thought it was a book based onthe movie.

JESSENo -

(Laughs)No, a play, yeah.

GROUP(OS, Laughing)

48.

CELINEOkay, it was a play. Wow. Well,actually I didn't read the wholething because you know, sometimes Ihave to keep up and read thosemagazines to know exactly what isgoing on in all those people's lives.

JESSEWell, that is important.

CELINEOkay. Well, you're very, very smartand

(whispering)I bet you have a gigantic penis.

JESSEWhy am I finding myself so attractedto this woman!

CELINEYes, he is - calm down!

GROUP(Reacts)

STEFANOSWow.

CELINEAnd that's the funny part of it! The not-so-funny part of the closetmacho, okay -- is that today, afterwe drop Henry off, he tells me thateven though I have an offer for anamazing job, he wants me to throw itall away and move to Chicago.

JESSEThat's not what I said.

CELINEYes.

JESSEI said I missed him. You wereexpressing something you feltconflicted about and I did the same.

CELINESo we can baby sit every other weekendfor his ex-wife! I mean hilarious.

49.

ARIADNIHey, hey, hey! You guys stop it. It must have been so hard sayinggoodbye to Hank today, right?

CELINEYeah, of course.

ARIADNII mean, he's such an amazing kid.

ACHILLESTell him I already miss my chesspartner.

JESSERight away.

ARIADNIWhen Stefanos and I split up...

STEFANOSYeah?

ARIADNII'm getting full custody.

STEFANOSOh. Well that's ok for a whilebecause me and my 20 year oldgirlfriend will be a littlepreoccupied.

GROUP(Laughs)

ARIADNI(laughter)

I love men.

STEFANOSAnd I love you.

ARIADNIOk, I have a story that my husbandhere loves and that's going tell youeverything you need to know aboutmasculine and feminine. Right? Okay, ready?

JESSE/STEFANOSYeah.

50.

ARIADNIMy mom used to be a nurse. So shewas there when people were comingout of their comas.

STEFANOSOh, that story. Yeah.

ARIADNIListen! Listen.

STEFANOSI'm listening.

ARIADNIIt's an interesting story.

STEFANOSI'm listening.

ARIADNISo she was the one to tell them,"Hi, my name's Katerina. You'recoming out of a coma."

Stefanos is mouthing words behind her.

ANNA(Laughing)

I'm sorry.

ARIADNI"You've been in a really badautomobile accident. You're goingto be okay."

Ariadni puts her hands over Stefanos' mouth.

ARIADNI (CONT'D)"You're going to be fine," and youknow, stuff like that. She saidthat every woman, the very firstthing, the first reaction she wouldhave would be to ask about everybodyelse. "How are my kids? How's myhusband? Is anyone else hurt?" Every man - with no exception - whenthey were told this, what was thefirst thing they did? Looked downat their cock.

GROUP(Laughs)

51.

JESSEWell, you know what? You've gottamake sure it's still there, all right? You've gotta make sure it's stillworking, you have to!

ARIADNIOf course, of course!

STEFANOSAlive and kicking.

ARIADNIYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

STEFANOSYeah, all that.

ARIADNIAnd only eventually, eventually,they would come around to askingabout their kids, or about someoneelse they might have accidentallykilled. Stuff like that. Importantstuff.

CELINEDoesn't that just say it all? Penisfirst, then the rest of the world.

ARIADNI, ANNA, WOMEN(Chanting)

Penis, penis, penis, penis, penis,penis--

JESSEOkay, whoa, whoa, whoa. If you canexplain it all on strictly genderterms, why do you or why does anywoman waste time getting mad at orbother trying to change a man?

STEFANOSExactly. It's all biology. What isthe problem?

CELINE(to Jesse)

And you're so, so good at turningthings around. I mean, he is agenius!

52.

JESSENo, I'm just trying to say it's likebeing pissed at a frog for beinggreen.

STEFANOSExactly.

CELINEYeah. Yeah, exactly!

ANNAHearing all this, I wonder if thisidea of a love affair that lastsforever is still relevant to us? Imean, we know that we are going tobreak up eventually.

ACHILLESDefinitely.

JESSE(to Anna and Achilles)

Okay, but are your parents stilltogether?

ANNANo way.

JESSENo. And what about you?

ACHILLESThey are. But they could be divorced.

JESSEYeah, they could.

ACHILLES(Laughs)

I mean, I think that if they hadmore money they wouldn't still betogether.

ARIADNIGod, you guys are so practical! Iwas born into the wrong generation.

ANNAMy grandmother's mother wrote to ourwhole family a twenty-six page letterfrom her deathbed. And she spentthree pages on the costumes she didfor a play and only one paragraph onher husband.

53.

JESSEWas she an actress too?

ANNANo, she was a...

(in French)How do you say, seamstress?

CELINE(in English)

A seamstress. Seamstress.

ANNASeamstress...and she had all thesewonderful friends. About my greatgrandfather she mentioned threeevents: He went to the war, we movedbecause of his job, and he died. Her big advice was not to be tooconsumed with romantic love. Friendships and work, she said,brought her the most happiness.

ARIADNII couldn't agree more. I mean, that'sthe thing that fucks us up, right? This idea of a soul mate, of someonewho will come to complete us andsave us from having to take care ofourselves. With Stefanos, I set thebar extremely low - I know he is notgoing to meet any of my needs.

GROUP(Laughing)

STEFANOSDefinitely not!

ACHILLES(to Patrick)

So what about grandma? Was she asoul mate?

PATRICKWell, sounds appealing, but actuallyyour grandmother was more rationalthan that. She took care of herselfand asked me to do the same, withplenty of room to meet in the middle.

ANNAYeah that sounds ideal.

54.

STEFANOSYeah, it is, actually. It is.

PATRICKBut it must be obvious that my wifeis not here today. We were neverone person, always two. We preferredit that way.

ARIADNIThat's so beautiful. I think myhusband is always trying to almostcolonize me, you know.

STEFANOSI colonize you?

ARIADNIYes, but I colonize you, too, darling.

STEFANOSWell okay then.

PATRICKBut at the end of the day, it's notthe love of one other person thatmatters, it's the love of life.

STEFANOSThat's good to know, Patrick, becauselife I can handle, Ariadni, on theother hand... We all know that theGreeks invented tragedy, right, andon top of that she's from the regionof Mani, which is short for maniac!

GROUP(Laughs)

CELINEAsk about the hotel.

JESSEHey, you guys, if we can't make thathotel room tonight, could you get arefund, or use it yourselves or -

STEFANOSNo, no, we don't get a refund.

ARIADNIAre you trying to get out of it? Because you're going.

55.

STEFANOSYou gotta go.

CELINENo, it's such a great gift you'vegiven us, but I'm so stressed gettingall the packing ready, the girls and -

ARIADNINo, no, no -

STEFANOSWe made a deal, guys, you watchedour kids. You're gonna love it.

ARIADNIWe're going to watch yours.

STEFANOSIt's really, really good.

ARIADNIIt's a fantastic, fantastic walk tothe hotel, and you won't regret it. And we'll be very offended if youdon't go.

STEFANOSIt is.

CELINEOkay. Thank you.

ARIADNIYou're going.

NATALIAWell, when I think of Elias, what Imiss the most about him is the wayhe used to lie down next to me atnight. Sometimes his arm wouldstretch along my chest. I couldn'tmove, I even held my breath, but Ifelt safe... complete. I miss theway he was whistling walking downthe street. Every time I dosomething, I think of what he wouldsay: "Well its cold today, wear ascarf." But lately I've beenforgetting little things. He's sortof fading and I'm starting to forgethim and it's like losing him again.

(MORE)

56.

NATALIA (CONT'D)Sometimes, I make myself rememberevery detail of his face - the exactcolor of his eyes, his lips, histeeth, the texture of his skin, hishair - that was all gone by the timehe went. And sometimes, not always,but sometimes I can actually seehim. It is as if a cloud moves awayand there he is. I could almosttouch him, but then the real worldrushes in, and he vanishes again. For a while, I did this every morning,when the sun was not too brightoutside because the sun somehow makeshim vanish. He appears and hedisappears like a sunrise or sunset,anything so ephemeral. Just likeour life - we appear and we disappearand we are so important to some,but, we are just passing through.

JESSE(Toasting)

To passing through.

EXT. WALK - EVENING

Celine and Jesse are walking through a very old area, in mid-conversation.

JESSE... And eventually he catches hisface in the window's reflection. And he realizes he's no longer anine-year-old boy, right? He'ssuddenly old, he's got a beard, hiseyes are watery, and he's still -

CELINE Oh, this one seems sad. At first Ithought you were going to tell methe story about the guy that has animaginary friend.

JESSEWhich one?

CELINE And when he's in his fifties theimaginary friend shows up again,right?

JESSEWith the hummingbird?

57.

CELINE Yes, that's the one.

JESEYeah. Oh, you like that one?

CELINE It's funny.

JESSEOh.

CELINERemember that letter that you let meread that you wrote when you weretwenty, to yourself at forty?

JESSEYeah, I remember the first sentence:Dear Forty-Year-Old Jesse, I hopeyou're not divorced.

CELINENo, I didn't even remember that part. I meant all the other things in thatletter...you were the same guy.

JESSEYeah...

CELINEI mean, we always think we'reevolving, but maybe we can't changethat much.

JESSEYou know how I think I've changedthe most?

CELINEHow?

JESSEWhen I was younger I just wantedtime to speed up. You know?

CELINEWhy?

JESSEWell. So I could be on my own. SoI could be free from my parents andschool and all that shit. You know?

(MORE)

58.

JESSE (CONT'D)I just wanted to close my eyes andwake up and be an adult. And then Ikind of feel like that all happenedand I just want everything to slowdown.

CELINE Hm... it's strange - I've always hadthis feeling, no matter where I amin my life, that it's either a memoryor a dream.

JESSE I know, you've always thought that.And me too, it's like, is this reallymy life? Like, is it happening rightnow?

CELINE It is.

JESSE I know.

Celine and Jesse laugh.

JESSE  (CONT'D)Every year I just seem to get a littlebit more humbled and more overwhelmedabout all the things I'm never goingto know or understand.

CELINEThat's what I keep telling you. Youknow nothing!

JESSE I know, I know! I'm coming around!

Celine and Jesse laugh.

CELINEBut not knowing is not so bad. Imean, the point is to be looking,searching. To stay hungry, right?

JESSE I know, it's true. I just wish itwas a little easier.

CELINEHow do you mean?

59.

JESSEWell, just to maintain a certainlevel of passion, you know? I meanit used to come so naturally. Iremember when I was younger, me andall my writer friends, we just feltlike we were doing somethingimportant, you know? Like this wasour time.

CELINEBut you were all a bunch of arrogantlittle pricks, right?

JESSENo, we -

CELINESounds like.

(Laugh)

JESSEAll right, maybe. I don't know, itjust grew out of all this energy youknow, this creativity or whateverambitions people had. You know, Ithink you gotta be a little deludedto stay motivated.

CELINEYoung men have this thing aboutcomparing themselves all the time. They have all these signposts theyjudge themselves by. You used to dothat all the time.

JESSE  Do what? What do you mean?

CELINEWith like: Rimbaud read this byseventeen, F. Scott Fitzgerald didthis by thirty...

JESSE  And Balzac wrote a book beforebreakfast every day, so what thehell am I doing?

CELINEYeah. But women don't think thatway as much.

JESSE  You don't think so?

60.

CELINENo. We have much less to compareourselves to maybe. Most women whoachieve anything in life, the firsttime you hear about them, they're intheir 50's, because it was so hardfor them to get any recognition beforethen. They struggle for 30 years orthey raise kids and were stranded athome before they could finally dowhat they want. Actually, you knowwhat? It's kind of freeing. Wedon't have to spend our livescomparing ourselves to Martin LutherKing, Gandhi, Tolstoy...

JESSE(Laughing)

Well, what about Joan of Arc, right? I mean, she was a teenager and shesaved France. So...

CELINEWho wants to be Joan of Arc, okay?

JESSENo?

CELINEForget France. She was burned atthe stake and a virgin! Okay? Nothing I aspire to. What a greatachievement!

JESSE(Laughing)

Okay! All right, all right, allright. Whatever.

CELINE(Laughs)

Oh, god.

JESSE What?

CELINENo, nothing.

JESSE What?

CELINE It's just so weird.

61.

JESSE What do you mean?

CELINE Oh, just this. Us. Walking, havinga conversation...

JESSE Oh, I know.

CELINE ... About something else thanscheduling, food, work.

JESSE Yeah, I mean, how long's it beensince we just wandered aroundbullshitting?

CELINE Do you hear what I hear?

JESSE The sea?

CELINE No.

JESSE What, oh! No small feet. Nothingbeing knocked over, nothing we haveto clean up, no injustices beingdone.

CELINE Yeah. So when was the last time?

JESSE When we had nowhere we had to be?

CELINE Yeah.

JESSE You remember walking around LuxembourgGardens?

CELINE Yeah.

JESSE Do you? I used to kick your ass atping pong on those concrete tables.

62.

CELINE Hey, congratulations! You beat awoman pregnant with twins!

JESSE Well, it's better than losing to apregnant woman with twins.

CELINE Such a gentleman! Yeah.

JESSE (a beat)

Hah-ha! You know what I think? Ithink its from the time we leave ourparents house until we have kids -that's the only time your life iscompletely your own. You know Ithink I had about a decade of that. It was great. It was just like onelong, flowing... a day, a week, ayear, there wasn't much difference.

CELINE No, I used to keep track of timethrough jobs and boyfriends and stufflike that. Now I can tell you everydetail of the past seven years basedon what was happening in the girls'lives.

JESSE Yeah, right. Totally.

CELINE You do that too?

JESSE Yeah, I mean time's demarcated now...

CELINE Really?

JESSE Why?

CELINE No, no, I'm just surprised. I'msurprised you do that too. No but,okay - quick test.

JESSE Oh, no...

63.

CELINE August 2009. Come on, it's a quickone. What was happening?

JESSE August 2009 - we were on vacationwith your parents. Nina got thechicken pox first, quickly followedby Ella.

CELINE I'm so impressed.

JESSE Yeah. So do I get a gold star?

CELINE Maybe. Hey. Can I ask you aquestion?

JESSE Sure.

CELINE If we were meeting for the firsttime today on a train, would youfind me attractive?

JESSE Of course.

CELINE No, but really, right now as I am? Would you start talking to me? Wouldyou ask me to get off the train withyou?

CELINE/JESSE(Laugh)

JESSE Well, I mean, you're asking atheoretical question. I mean, whatwould my life situation be? I meantechnically, wouldn't I be cheatingon you?

CELINEOkay. Why can't you just say "yes"?

JESSE No, I did. I said, "of course"! That was -

64.

CELINENo-no-no! I wanted you to saysomething romantic and you blew it.

JESSE Oh, okay. Alright, wait - if I sawyou on a train, okay, listen. Iwould lock eyes with you.

CELINEUh-huh.

JESSEAnd then I'd walk right up to youand I'd say, "Hey, baby. You aremaking me as horny as a billy goatin a briar patch."

He grabs her ass.

 CELINEStop it, that's disgusting! Billygoat. No, the truth is, you failedthe test. And the fact is, you wouldnot pick me up on a train. Youwouldn't even notice me, a fat-assedmiddle-aged mom, losing her hair.

JESSEOkay.

(Laughing)Losing her hair?

CELINEYeah, that's me!

JESSEYou set me up to fail. Honestly,you did.

CELINEOkay, true. True.

JESSEAlright? Alright? But in the realworld, baldy, on game day when itmattered, I DID talk to you on atrain. I did that, it was the bestthing I ever did.

CELINEReally? Look at the goats. Hello.

65.

JEESEHey. Alright. You know, that's noteven a good question, all right? The real question would be if I DIDask you to get off a train...

CELINEYeah?

JESSEWould you get off with me?

CELINENo, of course not. I have peoplewaiting for me.

JESSEYeah, see, so?

CELINEYou know, and

(Laughing)A forty-one-year-old horny billygoat? How creepy! I'm creeped outright now. Help, politzia!

JESSEI can't believe I'm 41.

CELINEYeah, me neither. You've gotten soold. I never thought I'd sleep withanyone over 40.

JESSEYeah, yeah... what?

CELINEActually, you know what? You're theoldest guy I've ever slept with.

JESSEWell, that's something. That's good.

CELINEIt's true.

JESSEI know I'm not the oldest guy you'veever blown.

CELINEWhat?

66.

JESSEThat conference in Warsaw?

CELINEWhat conference?

JESSELech Walesa.

CELINELech Walesa... oh, what are youtalking about?

JESSEIt's okay. It was before we weretogether, you can admit it. I canremember the way you talked abouthow he "opened your heart". Youdefinitely blew him. Definitely.

CELINEOh, okay. You're really crazy. That was Gorbachev, okay? Yougeographically challenged, footballobsessed, donut loving American. That was Gorbachev.

JESSEI'm sorry, I got my Eastern Blocleaders mixed up. Okay?

CELINEAnd I didn't blow him at all! Okay? Take it back!

JESSEOkay. All right, okay. Okay!

CELINEGod!

JESSESo was it Vaclav Havel? Or -

CELINEAll right, you know..

EXT. WALK PART TWO - EVENING

They're now walking through a small, very old town.

JESSEListen to this. I was going to waitto tell you this until later but,whatever. I'm so bad with secrets.

67.

CELINEWhat? You have a tumor in your brain? You're going to die?

JESSENo, no, no, no. Nothing like thatalright? Well actually, it's kindalike that. My grandmother died.

CELINEWhat? When?

JESSEYeah, my dad texted me right beforewe ate.

CELINEOh, I'm so sorry. Why didn't youtell me?

JESSEAh, I know. Well, everybody's beenexpecting it. You know, she lived along time, had a great life. Shewas ninety-six.

CELINEOkay. She didn't live much longerafter your grandfather died, though.

JESSENo, barely a year. I mean the funnything is, this woman was a frickin'saint.

CELINEYeah.

JESSEShe was a nurse in the war, she tookcare of all of us, you know. I mean,she never said an unkind word aboutanybody.

CELINEAh, I wish I'd met her.

JESSENo, it's okay, because by the end,you know, she just really wasn'tinto meeting new people. I meanafter a lifetime of being sweet as pie - once grandpa died, she gotkinda ornery.

68.

CELINEWell you know, it happens, she wasin mourning, no?

JESSEWell, my dad said she was just waitingto die.

CELINEHow long were they married? 

JESSE74 years.

CELINEFuck!

JESSE(Laughs)

Yeah.

CELINEHow is that even possible? How oldwill we be if we're together seventy-four years?

JESSEMm... well, when would we startcounting from?

CELINEI guess from the first time we hadsex. No?

JESSEOkay. Yeah, good. So, so um, 1994.

(Muttering, CalculatingUnder His Breath)

CELINEOkay. '94... fifty-six years fromnow.

JESSEOkay. We will be ninety-eight.

CELINE/JESSEUgh!!!

CELINEWill you be able to put up with mefor another fifty-six more years? Ineed to know! Okay? 'Cause I don'tknow if I'm gonna be able to put upwith you.

69.

JESSEIt's crazy if you think about allthe change they saw. I mean, whenthey met neither one of them hadelectricity. He used to take her toschool on his horse, right?

CELINEOh, that's so romantic... it'sincredible.

JESSEI know. When they graduated, he wasvaledictorian and she wassalutatorian.

CELINEWhat is that?

JESSEHe was top of the class and she wassecond.

CELINEI bet she knowingly got a couple of answers wrong just to make sure hedidn't feel threatened.

JESSEWell, if she wanted to get laid,she'd better have.

CELINEYeah, obviously like you-know-who.

JESSERight. Well, anyway, so I called mydad, right? After I got the text,just to...

CELINEYeah, yeah, of course, yeah.

JESSE... You know, tell him I was sorry...but I think I kind of screwed up. At some point I told him 'Hey Dad,you're an orphan now.' He didn'tthink that was funny.

CELINENo, it's not funny at all.

JESSEYeah, I guess not.

(MORE)

70.

JESSE (CONT'D)(Laughs)

CELINEHe's next, then you.  

JESSEI know. Well, he told me that mygrandparents want to have a jointservice. They want to have theirashes intermingled and be buried asone.

CELINEYour grandfather didn't have afuneral?

JESSENo, remember? They vowed to eachother they'd never have to attendone another's funerals.

CELINEOh, yeah. I kind of like the ideaof you attending mine.

JESSE(Laughs)

What?

CELINEImagining you in a suit, clean shavenfor once... and holding hands withthe girls... I don't know, I likeit.

JESSEYou're gonna outlive me.

CELINEWell, I'll see. I guess one of uswill see.

JESSEYou think you want to go to theservice with me?

CELINETo Texas?

JESSEUh, it's not going to be in Paris.

71.

CELINEHow bad do you want me there? Imean I would come but it's reallyexpensive with the flights...

JESSEJust skip it - it'd be simpler to goalone.

CELINE(To Barking Dog)

Oh, hello.

JESSEHello, buddy.

CELINEWell you know, if I'm not there it'llbe easier for you to fuck yourcousins.

JESSE(Laughs)

Yes, that's true.

CELINEYeah. Isn't that common where youcome from? I mean... you didn'tanswer the question.

JESSEWhat question?

CELINEWill you be able to put up with mefor another 56 more years?

JESSEI am looking forward to it.

CELINEShit, you're really working it.

JESSE(Spanish accent returns)

Ze nectar of your sex ages like afine wine.

CELINEUh-oh, my hairy Spanish lover isback.

JESSEGreek. I'm Greek now, for sure. Greek, yeah.

72.

CELINE(a beat)

Oh! Look at this! Wow. This placesort of reminds me of this film Isaw when I was a teenager. It was ablack and white film from the 50s. I remember a couple walking throughthe ruins of Pompeii, looking atbodies that had been lying there forcenturies. I remember the bodiescaught in their sleep, still lovinglyholding each other. I don't knowwhy, sometimes I have this image inmy mind when, you know, we're asleepand you hold me.

JESSEWhat, of being buried alive undermolten ash, that's what you'rethinking about?

CELINEYeah!

(Laughing)

JESSEThat's not very fun.

CELINE(Laughing)

Well... I don't know, it's nothorrible. They had some bodies withlittle kids sleeping between them...

JESSEOh, that's nice!

CELINEYeah! I guess I was young and a bitmorbid - I mean at that age youromanticize the idea of dying withthe person you love.

JESSEWell, you wanna die with me?

CELINEMaybe, if it were, you know, ourfirst night together, then, a longtime ago. But now, no. I'd like tolive!

73.

JESSEWell, I just wanted you to saysomething romantic and you blew it! Putain de merde!

CELINEOh, no! Putain de merde, I blew it. Okay, if we're both 98 you can askme again, but anytime sooner...Ehhnt!

(Whispers)Sorry.

They are walking by an old, tiny Chapel.

JESSEHey, this is the chapel I was tellingyou about. It's from the Byzantineera, it's like a thousand years old.

CELINECan we go in?

JESSEYeah. I think so. Check this out. Hello? Hello.

CELINEOh, wow!

They enter.

INT. CHAPEL - AFTERNOON

JESSEIt's a shrine to Saint Odilia, apatron saint to eyesight. Peoplecome from all over, they leave littlededications to the blind, to helprestore sight.

CELINEI'm sure it works.

He is looking at the old faded paintings on the walls.

JESSEMaybe. These paintings here, theymake me think of those Japanese monks,you know, with their deal onimpermanence. They like to paintwith water on rock on a hot day soby the time they're done it's alreadyevaporated.

Celine notices all the icons have been subtly defaced.

74.

CELINEAll the eyes are scratched out. Isthat about the blindness?

JESSENo, I thought that too, but thecaretaker guy, he told me that theTurks did that during the Occupation.

CELINEThat's it! I'm never eating Turkishfood again.

JESSEOh, okay. Well, that'll send a shiverthrough the international community.

CELINEOkay fine, then I'll never suckanother Turkish cock.

JESSE(Laughs)

Now THAT's gonna have a global impact.

CELINEOh, that's terrible. No, I forgotyou're a closet Christian. Is itreally bad to make blow-job jokes ina church?

Jesse just shrugs.

JESSEKind of is, okay? But we've doneworse.

CELINE(a beat)

The girls asked me again what ourwedding was like.

JESSEYeah? What'd you say?

CELINEI said it was very low key.

JESSEYeah, very low key. So low key Idon't even remember it.

CELINEVery Quaker.

(MORE)

75.

CELINE (CONT'D)I don't know why they want us to bemarried so badly. It's important tothem.

JESSEWe're in a church. You want to getmarried?

CELINENo.

JESSENo.

CELINEIt's just all those fairy tales theylike so much, you know? Rememberwhen they were little, at the end ofevery cartoon they watched, they'dbe all "Oh they're getting married!" Even if it's Pinocchio and his dad,or Donald Duck and his nephews.

EXT. WALK PART THREE- EVENING

They are now walking through the town on their way to theshore.

CELINESo if we're going to spend anotherfifty-six more years together...

JESSEYeah?

CELINE... What about me would you like tochange?

JESSE(Smirks)

That's another one of your can't-winquestions. I'm not answering that.

CELINEWhat do you mean? There's not onething you'd like to change about me? I'm perfect?

JESSEOkay.

CELINEOkay.

76.

JESSEActually...

CELINEOne thing.

JESSE... If I could change one thing aboutyou...

CELINEUh-huh.

JESSE... It would be for you to stop tryingto change me.

CELINEYou're a very skilled manipulator,you know that?

JESSEWell, I'm onto you. I know how youwork.

CELINEYou think?

JESSEYeah. I know everything about you. Here we go. Let's go through here.

CELINEI don't think you do, actually.

(Laughs)

JESSE(Laughs)

No? Well, I know you better than Iknow anybody else on the planet. But... maybe that's not saying much.

CELINEI mean right now?

JESSEWhat?

CELINEThis is great. You know?

JESSERight. Yeah.

77.

CELINEI feel close to you.

JESSEYeah.

CELINEBut sometimes, I don't know, I feellike you're breathing helium and I'mbreathing oxygen.

JESSE(helium voice)

What makes you say that? Huh?

CELINESee? I'm trying to truly connect -

JESSE(Helium voice)

What? Come on, I'm just beingmyself!

CELINE- And you make a joke! That's exactlywhat I'm talking about!

JESSEOh, listen, come on, come on. Ifwe're ever going to truly know oneanother, I think we'd probably haveto get to know ourselves better first.

CELINEYeah. Do you remember this friendof mine? George, from New York.

JESSENo.

CELINEOh, no, that was before. That wasbefore.

JESSEWhat was?

CELINEHe was this friend of mine that,when he found out he had leukemia,and he was probably going to die, heconfessed to me that the first thingthat came to his mind was relief.

78.

JESSERelief? But why?

CELINEWell, before he found out he hadnine months to live he was always soworried about money, and now histhought was, great! I have morethan enough money to live for thenext nine months, I've made it!

JESSE(Laughing)

Oh, okay.

CELINEAnd then he was finally able to enjoyeverything about life, even likebeing stuck in traffic. He wouldjust enjoy looking at people...staring at their faces. Just littlethings.

JESSEAnd then what happened?

CELINEWhat do you mean?

JESSEWell, like, is he still alive?

CELINENo, he died. A long time ago.

JESSE

(a beat)Last night I had this dream where Iwas reading a book. It was a lostclassic, "The Rovers".

CELINE"The Rovers"?

JESSEYeah, like roving around, you know,wandering? It was all these youngpeople.

CELINEOkay. Is that a real book?

JESSENo, no, no.

79.

CELINENo?

JESSEBut it was really great.

CELINEOkay.

JESSEIt was fresh, funny, experimental,it had all this energy...

CELINEI love that you read books in yourdreams.

JESSEI know, and they're always reallygood.

CELINEI have major action hero dreams,like I'm flying around like asuperhero, breaking through walls. And at the end, I have an orgasm.

JESSE(Laughs)

Well, I'm gonna try to make yourdreams come true, babe.

They arrive at the waterfront. The sun is now setting overthe ocean.

EXT. CAFE - EVENING

They are now sitting at an outdoor table with a couple ofglasses of wine, staring at the last bit of the fireball,quickly disappearing.

CELINEStill there. Still there. ... Stillthere. Still there. ... Gone.

They sit in silence. Eventually, Jesse looks over at Celineand notices she's moved. He just takes her hand. The sunis now gone.

INT. HOTEL LOBBY - NIGHT

As they are checking into the hotel, Jesse is signing variouspaperwork.

80.

HOTEL CLERK #1I need your credit card.

JESSEOh, I think the room is paid for.

HOTEL CLERK #1Yes it is, but the credit card isfor

(Speaks Greek)

CELINEIncidentals.

JESSERight, of course.

Another HOTEL CLERK (#2) emerges from office with his twobooks.

SOFIAMr. Wallace?

JESSEYeah?

SOFIAI am such a fan of these two books. My husband gave me your book on ourfirst date and then when your secondbook came out, we read it out loudtogether.

JESSEOh, wow.

SOFIAWould you please sign them to us?

JESSEYeah, of course, of course.

SOFIAThank you.

JESSEI love the art work on these Greekeditions, it's really nice. Uh,what do you need?

SOFIAMake it to Sofia and Pavlos.

JESSEOkay. How's the Greek translation?

81.

As Jesse signs the books, the Hotel Clerk starts payingattention to Celine.

SOFIAWell, it's called "Afti ti Fora,Ekini ti Fora"

JESSE"Ekini ti Fora."

SOFIABut I'm not sure it's a great one.

JESSEWell, that's because you never readit in English, right?

SOFIAExactly. ... That's great. Couldyou sign them too?

CELINEMe?

SOFIAYes. You're the real Madeline, right?

CELINEMadeline? Not really. People assumeit's me but it's - it's not me atall. He's got a big imagination.

SOFIAWould you be so kind? It would meanso much to my husband.

The book is passed to Celine.

CELINEI can't sign a book I didn't write. It doesn't make -

Jesse passes the books to Celine.

JESSEShe'd be happy to.

SOFIAOkay. Thank you.

CELINEI'm happy to.

She begins to sign.

82.

JESSEEfharisto.

CELINEOkay. Thank you.

SOFIAGreat. Thank you so much.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Celine and Jesse enter the room.

JESSECheck it out!

CELINEWow, this is nice!

JESSEYeah.

CELINEClean... air conditioning... I loveit! Oh my god.

JESSEIt's great.

CELINEWow, oh wow, that bath tub.

Jesse goes over to the table to examine what's on it.

JESSEHey, check this out. Stefanos andAriadni got us a bottle of wine anda couple's massage.

CELINEThey are so nice, we have to getthem a present before we leave.

JESSEI know, we should remember to getsomething for the kids, too.

CELINEYeah, I know. For sure. Wow. Imiss the girls.

Jesse seductively touches her.

JESSEMmm, I don't.

83.

Then kisses her. She eventually looks out the window.

CELINEThis is such a nice view. Look.

JESSEThe only view that I am interestedin...

CELINEWhat?

JESSE... Is right... here. Here. Let'ssee this.

He slowly undoes her top, revealing her still-perfect breasts. They kiss passionately.

JESSE (CONT'D)(Whispering)

What?

CELINE (touches his chin)

It's funny. I never noticed untiltoday but... all the red in yourbeard is gone. It used to be one ofthe things that made me fall foryou, it's crazy.

JESSEWell, it's not gone, it's just white. You're not gonna tell me that yourlove is dependent on pigment, areyou? No?

CELINENo, but you know, I see the red inour girls' eyelashes. I look atthem and it makes me think of whenwe met.

JESSEYou know what I'm looking forwardto?

CELINEYeah? What?

JESSEAfter uh...

CELINEAfter?

84.

JESSEYeah.

(Laughing)

CELINEWhat?

JESSEIs waking up next to you alone.

CELINEYou mean without Nina and Ella jumpingon our heads.

JESSEExactly. I haven't heard you thinkin years now.

CELINEThink?

JESSEI used to wake up to that sound ofyour eyes opening and closing, andthat brain of yours going two millionmiles an hour. I miss it, hearingyou think.

CELINEWhen you said you could hear me think,I really thought you could. But itwas just my eyelids. How dumb andromantic of me.

JESSEIt's my favorite thing.

CELINEI miss thinking, too. No morethinking in the morning, no moremorning sex.

JESSETomorrow...

CELINEI'm looking forward to it so much, Idon't think I will sleep.

JESSEI'm looking forward to right now.

CELINEOkay, then stop talking, so we canfuck.

85.

They kiss until Celine's cell phone rings.

CELINE (CONT'D)(Laughs)

Oh, shit, who is it?

JESSEThe kids.

Celine crawls out of bed and heads across the room towardher bag.

CELINEI said they could call in case ofemergency only. Hope the girls areokay. Okay. Oh, it's Henry. Okay.

Celine picks up.

CELINE (CONT'D)Hi sweetie - are you okay? Are youin London? Oh! Oh, already?

(listens)Oh, no, we found it. Uh, we'll mailit tomorrow morning.

(listens)Yeah. Ohh, they miss you, too. I'll kiss them for you. Okay, I'lltell him. Good luck with your mom -I love you too. Bye.

Celine hangs up. Jesse gestures for the phone are againignored.

CELINE (CONT'D)He's fine. He says he'll call youfrom Chicago when he lands.

JESSEWhy can't I talk to him? That'stwice you've done that. C'mon, youcould have just handed me the phone. You know I want to talk to him.

CELINEWell, he didn't have time to talk -he said they were boarding.

JESSEAnd what'd he forget? What was that?

Jesse glares.

86.

CELINEHis science project. But we'll mailit tomorrow. It'll be fine.

JESSEYou shouldn't have said that abouthis mom.

CELINEWhat? What did I say?

JESSE"Good luck with your mom."

(Laughs)I mean, come on -

CELINEI didn't mean anything by it.

JESSEI know, but it's not good. It justreminds him of the whole thing. Ijust wish you wouldn't do that...

CELINEOh, like you think he forgets?

JESSENo...

CELINEThat's so American to just sweep itunder the carpet and act as if itdidn't happen.

JESSEWhy put it into his head? You know? What if he doesn't want to be thinkingabout that right now? He's toostressed.

CELINEIt means nothing.

JESSEIt means something. It does.

CELINEAlright, I even made a joke the otherday that his mom and I should try tosettle it in one big mud wrestlingcontest.

JESSEMud wrestling? You said that?

87.

CELINEAnd he laughed. He might have moreof a sense of humor than you do. Come on.

JESSEWe just talked about that. When yousay bad things about his mom, whathe hears is bad things about himself.

CELINEWell, I didn't say anything bad abouthis mom. I made a joke; it's asmuch on me as it is on her.

JESSEWell you're right. I know, I know,I know. Just why conjure it up atall, you know?

Jesse gets up out of bed and goes across the room, goes toCeline's purse and turns off her phone.

CELINEI think he's old enough now. I mean,he knows how bad it is between hismother and I.

JESSEHis mom and me.

CELINEAnd I didn't do anything, it's allcoming from her towards me. Okay,she hates me; yes, I fucked herhusband a long time ago. Or shouldI say, he fucked me?

JESSEYeah, right!

CELINEMaking a joke about the fact thathis mom and I don't love each otheris not the issue. That's not goingto traumatize him. That alreadyhappened, alright, and now you'retrying to transfer your guilt andblame me?

JESSENo, I'm not.

88.

CELINEYou know, on the contrary, if he canmake a joke about it, maybe he'll beable to live with it better. That'swhat I think.

JESSEOkay. You're right. As always. Let's just not talk about it, okay?

CELINEIt's nobody's fault if his mom is adrunk and abusive psychologically.

JESSEDon't say that!

CELINEI mean, it makes me sick that he hasto be with her, but I guess judgesassume that women have the motherinstinct. She has the mother instinctof Medea!

Jesse goes to the bathroom and washes off his face.

JESSEMedea, huh?

CELINEYeah, after all, it is a Greek myth.

JESSEIt's actually a play by Euripides,but -

CELINEA woman killing her kids to punishher ex-husband? That's basicallywhat she's doing, she's hurting himto get to you.

JESSENo, she's making my life hell throughhim, that's what she's doing. Youknow, sometimes, you say things thatjust go too far.

CELINEOkay, stop blaming me for everythingthat is wrong in this whole thingwith your wife, okay?

JESSEEx-wife! Ex-wife for a long time!

89.

CELINEOkay, you should have dealt with ita little better back then. Shewouldn't have hated us so much.

JESSEOkay--I screwed up. And I love thislittle re-write you do: everythingthat isn't perfect in our life getslaid at my feet...

CELINEAnd now you're putting this shit onme about Henry?

JESSEWhat shit? What're you talking about?

Jesse takes off his pants and returns to the bed. Celineimmediately begins putting on her top and gets up.

CELINELet me tell you what I'm talkingabout: the moving to Chicago andgiving up of my life. Now that youmention that Henry needs you, how doyou think that makes me feel? I'mmiserable! Alright? How can I takethat job now? Tell me!

JESSEOkay.

CELINETell me. I'll feel too guilty! No-no-no-no-no!

JESSELook, look. That's a choice you'remaking, to look at it like that,alright?

CELINEIt is in the nature of women to bethe nurturah.

JESSEThe what?

CELINENur-tchur-yer.

JESSEThe nurturer?

90.

CELINEOkay, I can't even say that fuckingword! I just naturally feel badabout everything. And you give methat look, like it's my fault.

JESSEWhat look?

CELINEThat look, the I-forgot-to-put-in-the-bag-the-science-project-look. Iknow you blame me.

JESSEI didn't say anything.

CELINENo. You didn't say anything. Youdidn't have to. Yeah, yeah, it'salways my fault.

JESSEYeah right.

Celine walks across the room, sits on the couch, and turnson her phone again.

CELINEI read on the fridge at work - youknow those magnet words that peoplemake sentences with? Someone hadput together, "Women explore foreternity in the vast garden ofsacrifice."

JESSE(Laughs)

Wow! That's a sure sign from God!

CELINEYeah. That line is so damn true andit's been for ten thousand years. But that's enough! Okay. I don'twant to be one of these women. Likemarriage is important to gays orcontraception to women rights - it'sthe same with giving up my hopes,with the millions of women that havehad to give up their hopes. I amnot going to do it. This is biggerthan me. This means more than me.

Jesse bursts into applause.

91.

JESSEWow! Bravo! The Nobel committee istaking note. I'm just - hold on asecond, I'm gonna alert Sweden, okay? I mean, it must be a full-time jobcarrying that much feminineoppression.

CELINEIt is.

JESSEYou suffered so much growing up inmiddle-class Paris! I mean, theagony in the trenches of the Sorbonnein the post-feminist era. I can'timagine.

CELINE You're an asshole. You know whatsweetie, when are we moving toChicago? I want to make sure we areable to find a nice house and I cansew the drapes and pick matching bedcovers.

JESSESo this is how you now want to bespending this evening? I mean, thisis what you wanna do tonight?

CELINEWell, you started it.

JESSENo. You are the one who will notshut up about it. But if you wantto talk about it, I mean, reallytalk about it. I would prefer tohave an unemotional, rationalconversation. I mean, do you thinkwe can do that? Would that bepossible?

CELINEHere we go. Unemotional, rational. You always play the part of the oneand only rational one and I'm theirrational, hysterical, hormone-crazyone because I have emotions. Yeah,you sit back and you speak from yourbig perspective which means everythingyou say is level-headed and true.

92.

JESSEI don't always do anything.

CELINEThe world is fucked by unemotionalrational men deciding shit, alright? Politicians going to war for noreason, corporate heads deciding towreck the environment, Cheney,Rumsfeld - very rational men.

JESSECheney and Rumsfeld? Yeah, okay.

CELINEThe final solution? Very rationalthinking behind it.

 JESSE(Laughs)

Oh, okay, so we're there now? Usversus the final solution? Okay! Let's do it, alright? Let me askyou this, alright? Do you thinkHenry's life would be helped by amore consistent presence by you andme?

CELINEHere we go...

Jesse gets up from the bed, puts his pants back on, and joinsCeline on the couch.

JESSENo. You won't drop it, so let'stalk about it. Alright? Let mejust ask you one question. Do youthink Hank's life would be betterserved by a more consistent presencefrom you and me?

CELINEYes! I think it'd be better if helived with us...

JESSEOkay.

CELINE... And I think his mom is a fuckingalcoholic, hateful cunt that usedthe time that we were in Paris and Iwas giving birth and almost dying to

(MORE)

93.

CELINE (CONT'D)legally move Henry out of New York. Fuck her.

JESSEOkay. I agree with you. Unfortunately, we cannot go get himout of America but we could, if wewanted to, go to him. Now, I knowit would be a big move, but what doyou think? I mean, is there any wayyou could be happy in the U.S.? Isthat just out of the realm ofpossibility? That you could find acomparable job there?

CELINEComparable job? Are you kidding?

JESSENo.

CELINEWhy am I the one that always has tomake the compromises?

JESSEOh, Jesus Christ. Don't be sodramatic, okay?

CELINEWell, moving to Chicago is prettyfucking dramatic to me.

JESSEI'm not saying we should move. Ijust want to talk about it. Can yoube my friend for like two seconds sowe can talk?

CELINEOkay, two seconds.

JESSE Alright. Do you remember that timethat you were like 35 minutes lateto pick the girls up from school andyou were so stressed out because youknew they were out there in theplayground wondering what the hellhad happened to you. Okay, that isthe way I feel all the time, youknow like I fucked up. I mean, Ileft him behind and I just wanna goget him.

94.

CELINEYou always get like this when youdrop him off. You're sad, so youstart a fight. He's fine. He's agreat kid. Okay? But the truth is,he doesn't need you the way he usedto. You missed the opportunity tobe with him everyday of his childhood,you just did. And you can cry aboutit but he's growing up. You're agreat father in other ways. You gotdivorced, like millions of otherpeople. Was it ideal? No. Listen,if in one month, you still want meto quit my job and give up everythingI have ben working towards all theseyears, just ask me. But right now Ifeel the same way I always have. Iwould move back to the US if thatdiseased ex-wife of yours would giveus joint custody. But every otherweekend amounts to shit Jesse, that'sless than thirty days a semester andI don't think it's worth it for usto change our entire lives over thatkind of time.

JESSE I know, you're right.

CELINERight, right? See? I'm being therational one.

JESSE Oh, it's just such a shitty position,you know? I mean Hank didn't doanything but he's the one gettingkicked in the teeth.

CELINEWe all get dragged through ourparents' lives. If it wasn't me,your marriage would have ended oversomething else and you know that.

JESSE Absolutely.

CELINEOr even worse, he would have beenraised by two miserable parents.

95.

JESSE I know. I just really fucked thatup.  

CELINEYou mean you fucked up by moving toParis to be with me?

JESSE No. That's not what I meant...

CELINEI knew that was going to cost toomuch.

JESSE That's not what I meant at all!

CELINEI told you not to do it.

JESSE Stop it.

CELINEI moved to New York with you for twoyears and gave up everything, but Ineeded to be home to give birth tothe twins because it was a complicatedbirth and I wanted to be with mymother. And you wanted it too!

JESSE Yes. Okay.

CELINEOkay. That's the one thing I askedfrom you, the one thing. And nowyou're going to blame me forever.

JESSE Stop it will you? Stop it. If youdon't want to move back to the Stateswe won't. End of story. I'm justtrying to find a way where I can bemore of a consistent presence in hislife, and ideally I'd like to dothat as a family.

CELINE'As a family?' Or what?

JESSE What the fuck does that mean?

96.

CELINEI feel a passive aggressive threatin everything you say. Either dothis, or I will resent you for therest of our lives.

Silence.

CELINE (CONT'D)No? Am I Right? You know what? I'm sensing something... I think theproblem is that you don't want me tohave a more substantial job. Onsome level, you feel threatened bymy achieving anything that coulddiminish your status in ourrelationship.

JESSE My status in our relationship? Iteach two courses a semester at thefucking American school. Ok wow,that's really some status.

CELINENow I don't think it's any coincidencethat you feel that way at the sametime that I have a truly excitingjob opportunity.

JESSE This whole train of thought iscomplete horse shit and you know it.

CELINEI have a question for you. If wedidn't have the girls, all our crap. Would we even still be together?

JESSE What? I mean you are the fuckingmayor of crazy town, do you knowthat? You are.

CELINEYou know what I think? I think youneed to move to Chicago. I thinkHenry needs you and I think I needto stay in Paris with the girls andtake this job.

JESSE Why are you doing this, huh? Thatis a ridiculous idea.

(MORE)

97.

JESSE  (CONT'D)Like I'm gonna lose you and the girls? No. Why do you make everything sodifficult?

CELINEJesse, you're unhappy with me. You'reblaming me for taking you away fromyour son.

JESSE That is a completely irrationalresponse to something I am just tryingto feel my way through.

CELINEListen, Jesse. We've just spent thelast six weeks here and it's beengreat. You've been able to writeeveryday and the weather's been nice. But I didn't want to come to Greeceoriginally.

JESSE I know.

CELINEAll right? There could be arevolution any second...

JESSE Don't.

CELINEPeople eat a lot of feta and oliveoil, they act all happy but theyactually talk about how "angry" theyare... and it confuses me and I don'tknow what's going to happen in thenext few weeks.

JESSE Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me tell youwhat's going to happen alright. Thesame thing that always happens:Nothing.

CELINEAlright. You know what? I have hadabsolutely zero time for myself, Ihave ten thousand emails I have toanswer that I didn't answer...

JESSE And you think I don't?

98.

CELINEI spend all day making dinner, wipingboth you and your son's pee off thetoilet seat, while you talk to yourfellow novelists. Blah, blah, blah,you're a genius, blah, blah, blah,no, you're a genius. And the secondwe say goodbye to Henry, you suggestthat maybe I should give up my dreamjob because you feel bad.

JESSE Oh. Okay, now it's your dream job?! This afternoon you weren't even sureyou wanted it but now it's your dreamjob. Do you ever listen to yourself?

CELINEYes it is my dream job! Just becauseI have doubts doesn't mean I don'twant it.

JESSE Okay.

CELINEAll right? But what do you care? Every day you go on your two hour"contemplative" walk under the olivetrees. Socrates... you should get arobe.

JESSE It's an hour.

CELINENo, by the time you leave, and bythe time you're actually with usagain, two hours. You know, I couldnever do that. You're very good attaking care of yourself. I takecare of myself, AND everything else. We're going somewhere, you pack yourbag, I pack EVERYTHING else.

JESSE You would never let me pack the girls'shit. Never!

CELINEBecause there would be no shoes andplenty of dirty underwear.

JESSE So says you.

99.

CELINEI'm happy you have time to contemplatethe universe and have existentialproblems because I don't - I barelyhave time to think. I work, I baby-sit, I work, I baby-sit.    

Jesse wanders off into the bathroom to take a pee.

JESSE Could you hold on a second? I justhave to tune up the string section...

CELINEYou know what? The only time I getto think now, is when I take a shitat the office. I'm starting toassociate thoughts with the smell ofshit.

JESSE Well, that is a good line - I wantto use that in a book someday.

CELINEI'm sure you will - and that'll bethe best line in the book.

She walks over and talks to him directly while he's in thebathroom.

CELINE (CONT'D)And by the way, you may never, EVER,use me or anything I say or do inone of your fucking books again! And that goes for the girls, too.

Jesse comes back out.

JESSE Well, A) You shouldn't have hookedup with a writer. B) You weren'tin the last book or the one I'mwriting now. C) I'm gonna writeabout whatever the fuck I want.

CELINEAs always, OUR life works for YOU.

JESSE No, no, no. Don't give me this putupon housewife bullshit. Okay thisis not the 50's.

(MORE)

100.

JESSE  (CONT'D)I'm sorry to ruin your perfect littlenarrative of oppression with thetruth but I am the one who's at homeeveryday dealing with the bullshitcause you're at work until 6:30.

CELINE6 o'clock.

JESSE You take the girls to school, and Ipick them up. That's fair, that'sour deal. We live in Paris, Francefor chrissakes.

CELINEYeah, and you remind me of it everysingle day.

JESSE I have orbited my entire life aroundyou and you know it. So I am sorryif this Summer's vacation - and itis a vacation - because all I'veseen you do is frolic in the sea andshove greek salad down your throat. Ok, but it is not indicative of youspending your life in some kind ofdomestic servitude.

CELINEYou know what I love about men? They still believe in magic. Littlefairies around who pick up theirsocks, little fairies unload thedishwasher, little fairies sunscreenthe kids. Little fairies who makethe fucking Greek salads that youeat like a pig.

JESSE Okay, listen to me, all right? Youare great at taking care of us. Youare. I mean you take care of thekids, you take care of your friends,you take care of the world. Alright? And you were like that before youwere a mom and now its only magnified. But, and I've been telling you thisfor years - you gotta do a littlebit better job taking care ofyourself. Ok, you do.

101.

CELINEOkay, stop patronizing me, all right? I'm the one at home every night at6.00, not 6.30. I am reliable. Have you ever booked a baby sitter,ever, in your entire life? NO. What is the name of theirpediatrician?

JESSE Stop quizzing me, all right? It'sreally fucking boring.

CELINEYeah, okay. You know what? I'm athome every night and I make dinner,I give baths, and I read bedtimestories. Sometimes you're there,sometimes you're at a universityevent or a publicity tour. Ok? When you get "inspired" you keep onwriting. I get inspired toosometimes, you know that?

JESSE You want to write? Great. Write.

CELINENo, but you remember I used to singand play guitar and write songs? I'd still like to do it. But I don'tget to - there isn't time.

JESSE Okay. Well, first off, my writingisn't a hobby. Secondly, I wish youwould find the time. You somehowmanage to find the time to complainabout 8 hours a day. I mean, I lovethe way you sing. Okay? I fuckedup my whole life 'cause of the wayyou sing. Alright? If you took oneeighth of the energy that you spendon bitching, whining and worrying... If you put that energy into playingscales, I mean you would be likefucking Django Reinhardt.

Celine exits...

JESSE  (CONT'D)Okay. All right. Whoops. You forgotyour shoes.

(sighs)Goddamn. Hell.

102.

And quickly re-enters.

CELINEYou think you're winning?!

(almost losing hertemper)

Very few people realize what it islike for an active or passionatewoman to have a child. Some friendstold me, "you'll see, you'll want tothrow them out the window." Okay,but the truth is I never wanted tohurt them once but I thought aboutending it all for myself a hundredtimes. I was so confused, and youwere always away on a stupid booktour or because of Henry's custodyshit and I didn't want to be a burden. Now I know why Sylvia Plath put herhead in a toaster.

JESSEIt was an oven. 

CELINE(losing it)

Don't play with words. You knowwhat I mean - toaster, oven. Samething. You know how many times Iwas alone with the girls crying withno clue what to do? Do you know theguilt a mother feels when she doesn'tknow what to do?

JESSEDo you think you have sole ownershipof that feeling?

CELINEI don't think you understand, okay?

(a beat)You know what my secret fear is? With every man? Is that they allwant to turn me into a submissivehousewife.

JESSEOkay, no one could EVER do that, allright? I promise, it would be easierto fit your head into a toaster thanto turn you into anything submissive.

The whole conversation has taken on a calmer tone.

103.

CELINEI don't think I've recovered sincegiving birth. When they were born,I had no idea what to do. Peopleexpect women to have instinct thatkicks in, like a female baboon. ButI had no idea how to do anything. Iloved them so much, and I was doingeverything wrong. And you were awayso often, calling me, asking me howmy day went, and I couldn't even sayit to you because I felt so ashamedfor being so clueless.

JESSELook, I think you did great.

CELINENo, I didn't.

JESSENo, you did. Well, you did a goodjob faking it, then.

CELINEI remember the only way I could getthem to sleep was to drag that stupiddouble stroller down the stairs andwalk them for hours and hours in themiddle of the night, all the way toPigalle and back. I almost got muggedonce... I mean, the only reason whythe guy didn't attack me was is thatI looked so pathetic. The only upsideof being over 35 is that you don'tget raped as much. I read it - itstrue.

Jesse laughs. The tone shifts.

JESSEOh, Jesus.

(he takes her hand)Once I remember I was watching thetwins on a trampoline, you know, andthey looked so beautiful. And I washappy because they were happy, youknow. One of them had this hula-hoop that she was using as a jumprope, but then the other one wantedit so they started fighting over it. All of a sudden I saw it all, thispetty jealously and selfishness... Iremember thinking: this is the natural

(MORE)

104.

JESSE (CONT'D)human state - always a littledissatisfied, perpetuallydiscontented, you know? I mean,look at us, here we are, in a gardenof Eden and we can't stop fighting.

CELINEI don't think there is one naturalhuman state. The human state ismultiple. If that's what you seewhen you're watching the girls play,that means you're depressed.

JESSEOkay. Maybe I am.

Celine is slowly getting revved up again.

CELINEWhen I see them fight, I see beautifulenergy of going forward in life andnot letting anyone step on them ortake away what they want. I like itwhen they fight - it gives me hopefor them.

JESSEWell that's because you see anger asa positive emotion, you know, andyou only end up hurting yourself,your work, your kids, me.

CELINEAnd you never get angry?

JESSEWhen I do, I don't see it as apositive.

CELINEYou know something? The way youwrite in your book, people come upto me and think I make love to somewildcat Henry Miller type... HA! You like to have sex the EXACT sameway every time.

JESSEWhen you got it, you got it.

CELINEKissy, kissy. Titty, titty. PUSSY.

(snoring)

105.

JESSEI'm a man of simple pleasures.

CELINEYeah, very simple, and I've beenmeaning to tell you that lately. You're no Henry Miller, on any level. You know what, this room gives methe creeps, I was expecting somethingquaint, like the real Greece.

JESSEThis place is pretty real.

CELINEWhat the hell are we doing hereanyway? This is all too planned,like we're supposed to have thisgreat evening. There's no room forspontaneity, it is all gone from ourlives. It's stupid and it's notworking...

JESSEOkay. Well, obviously, right?

CELINERight, yeah ... and I curse Ariadniand that perv Stefanos for doingthis. A couples massage - what thefuck is that? That sounds sleazy tome.

JESSEWe don't have to do it! Okay? C'mon,this place isn't so bad. I likehotel rooms... I think they're sexy.

CELINEYeah, I know you do, Mr. Book Tour. Mr. Radisson Hilton. And I knowthat time when you were doing thatreading in Washington, when yourcell phone supposedly broke thatnight - how convenient. Swear onour kids that you didn't fuck thatlady from the bookstore. Emily. Swear to me you didn't fuck thatEmily girl. And I'm not jealousbecause I'm not the jealous type butI just wanna know, be a man and admitthe truth.

106.

JESSEI am giving you my whole life, okay? I've got nothing larger to give. I'm not giving it to anybody else. If you're looking for permission todisqualify me, I'm not going to giveit to you. I love you and I'm NOTin conflict about it. But if whatyou want is a laundry list of allthe things about you that piss meoff, I could give it to you.

CELINEYeah - I want to hear.

JESSE Okay! Well, uh, let's start at numberone - okay, number one, you're fuckin'nuts, alright? You are, good luckfinding somebody else to put withyour shit for more than like 6 months. But I accept the whole package, thecrazy and the brilliant. I knowyou're not going to change, and Idon't want you to. It's calledaccepting you for being you.

CELINEYeah okay, I asked you a question. If, while I was carrying the doublestroller down the stairs and gettingass-raped in Pigalle, you fuckedthat little Emily Bronte girl?

JESSE Ok I don't know. Emily... what Emily? What are you even talking about?

CELINEThe one who wrote the nice emailsabout Dostoevsky? "Oh Jesse, you'reso right, "The Grand Commander" isthe deepest passage of all Russianliterature."

JESSE If you're asking me if I'm committedto you, the girls, and the life we'vebuilt together, the answer is aresounding YES.  

CELINESo you DID fuck her! Thank you verymuch.

107.

JESSE Do I ever ask you about the time youwent to go visit your old boyfriendafter his mother died? No. Youwant to know why? Because I KNOWthe way that your fucking French assworks, and I guarantee that you atleast blew that guy, but I also knowthat you love me, okay? I'm okaywith you being a complicated humanbeing! I don't wanna live a boringlife where two people own each other,where two people are institutionalizedin a box that others created - becausethat is a bunch of stifling bullshit.

Petrified, she exits.

Jesse sits alone waiting for her to return.

Enter Celine. She walks in, sets her room key down.

CELINEYou know what's going on here? It'ssimple - I don't think I love youanymore.

She exits. Jesse sits there, gazing from the cold cup oftea, to the door, to the full glasses of wine, to the rumpled,empty bed. Celine doesn't come back.

EXT. OUTDOOR CAFE/BAR - NIGHT

Jesse finds Celine sitting near the same table where theysaw the sunset earlier.

JESSEMiss?

CELINEI don't want to talk right now.

JESSEAre you by yourself? Are you waitingfor somebody?

CELINEYeah, I'm by myself and happy to be. I'm an angry person and I hurt mykids, my work, and everyone I love.

JESSEOh. Well, just my type.

Jesse sits down right across from her.

108.

CELINEOkay, I'm not in the mood - I camehere to be alone.

JESSEYeah, listen. I've just been checkingyou out from across the cafe and Idon't want to make you uncomfortable,but you're by far the best lookingwoman in this place.

CELINEThank you very much.

JESSEI'd love to buy you a drink, maybetalk to you, get to know you a littlebit... you know. Are you here onbusiness?

Nothing.

JESSE (CONT'D)Ok.. You have a boyfriend?

CELINENot anymore.

JESSESorry to hear that. God, you wantto talk about it?

CELINEI don't talk to strangers.

JESSEBut that's the thing, I'm not astranger. No, we've met before...summer '94.

CELINEYou are mistaking me for someoneelse.

JESSENo, we even fell in love.

CELINEReally? I vaguely remember someonesweet and romantic, who made me feelI wasn't alone anymore. Someone whohad respect for who I was.

JESSE That's me. I'm that guy.

109.

CELINEI don't think so.

JESSE Well, see, I know something abouttonight that you don't know.

CELINEReally. What is that?

JESSE Something important. See, I knowbecause I've actually already livedthrough this night.

CELINEHow?

JESSE I'm a time traveler.

CELINEOkay.

JESSE I have a time machine up in my room. I've come to save you just like Isaid I would.

CELINESave me from what?

JESSE Save you from being blinded by allthe little bullshit of life.

CELINEIt's not bullshit.

JESSE I assure you, that guy you vaguelyremember, the sweet romantic one whoyou met on a train? That is me.

CELINEThat's you?

JESSE Yeah.

CELINEGuess I didn't recognize you... youlook like shit.

110.

JESSE What can I say? I mean, it's toughout there in time and space. You,on the other hand are even morebeautiful than I remember.

CELINEBullshit! Jesse, this is not a game. You get all cute, you get in mypanties and the next thing I know,I'm buying peanut butter in Chicago. You're not going to make it betterby some little pick up line.

JESSE  I'm not trying to pick you up - no,no, you misunderstood me. I'm onlyhere as a messenger. I've justtraveled all the way from the future. I was just with your 82 year oldself who gave me a letter to read toyou. So here I am.

CELINEI'm still alive in my 80's?

JESSE  OOOHHHH YEAH.

CELINEHow's my French ass?

JESSE Nice. Really nice.

CELINEI don't care about the way I look.

JESSE Let's just say, there's even more ofyou to love. Okay, do you want meto read the letter to you?

CELINEDo I have a choice?

JESSE Oh sure, I mean, if you're notinterested in what you have to say...

CELINENo, no, no. Read it.

111.

JESSE Okay, here I go. Dear Celine, I'mwriting to you from the other sideof the woods. This letter is lightinga candle...

CELINEOkay stop it. I would never writethis - it's too flowery, "Other sideof the woods," what fucking woods? What're you talking about?

JESSE May I please continue?

CELINEOkay.

JESSE I am sending you this young man. Yes, young - and he will be yourescort. God knows, he has manyproblems and has struggled his wholelife connecting and being presenteven with those he loves the most. And for that he is deeply sorry -but you are his only hope. Celine,my advice to you is this: you areentering the best years of your life. Looking back from where I sit nowthese middle years are only a littlebit more difficult then when youwere 12 and Mathieu and Vanessa dancedall night to the Bee Gee's "How deepis your love." Celine, you will befine. Your girls will grow up tobecome examples and icons of feminism.

CELINENice one.

JESSE Yeah, well, you know what I justnoticed, there's a Post Script atthe bottom, looks kind of important. Maybe I should just skip over therest of this boring stuff and get tothat?

CELINEYeah, skip away. Please, skip away.

JESSE Okay. You sure?

112.

CELINEYeah.

JESSE Okay, all right, well.

CELINEThe boring stuff.

Jesse scoots his chair closer to her.

JESSE Yeah. Okay.

(looks around, lowershis voice)

Yeah, it's like financial tips,horoscopes, boring stuff. Okay, hereit is... P.S. By the way, the bestsex of my life happened one night inthe Southern Peloponnese. Don'tmiss it. My whole sexual being wentto a new, ground-breaking level.

CELINEGround-breaking. Great.

JESSE Yeah, I don't know what that means.

CELINEOkay, Jesse, can you stop this stupidgame? We're not in one of yourstories. Okay? Did you hear what Isaid to you back in the room? Didyou hear me?

JESSE Yes, I heard you - that you don'tlove me anymore. I figured you didn'tmean it but if you did, then fuckit. You know something? You'rejust like the little girls andeverybody else - you want to live insome fairy tale. I'm just trying tomake things better here. I tell youI love you unconditionally, I tellyou that you're beautiful, I tellyou that your ass looks great whenyou're 80. I'm trying to make youlaugh. I put up with plenty of yourshit, and if you think I'm just somedog who's gonna keep coming backthen, you're wrong. But if you wanttrue love - this is it.

(MORE)

113.

JESSE  (CONT'D)This is real life. It's not perfect,but it's real. And if you can't seeit, then you're blind, alright? Igive up.

Jesse crumples up the napkin/letter he was reading from andtosses it on the table. What follows is a lengthy silentsequence where they just sort of stare at each other,seemingly going through everything past and present.

CELINESo what about this time machine?

JESSE What do you mean?

CELINEHow does it work?

JESSEWell... it's complicated.

CELINEAm I going to have to get naked tooperate it?

Jesse's mood shifts, and the camera starts to slowly pullaway from them as they continue talking.

JESSEYeah, actually. Yeah, it's been areal issue, you know, clothes don'ttravel well through the whole space-time continuum.

CELINE(bimbo voice)

Wow. You're so smart.

JESSEOh, Jesus.

CELINESpace-time...?

JESSEContinuum.

CELINE'Continuum.'

JESSEYeah.

114.

CELINEWow.

JESSEYou know, there's something I havebeen thinking about, about yourletter. You mention something aboutthe southern Peloponesse? We're inthe southern Peloponesse.

CELINEYeah?

JESSEDo you think it could be tonightthat you're still talking about inyour 80s?

CELINEWell, it must have been one hell ofa night we're about to have.

The camera has now pulled far away and the conversation hasbecome inaudible. We leave them as just another couplesitting and talking at a table on a beautiful night on thecoast of Greece.

FADE OUT