Before Midnight Page #2

CELINE:

Well, I've been thinking about it.

This is the way to go.

JESSE:

Okay. Well then, let me remind you

that you do not like that guy. The

whole time you worked for him before,

you complained about him constantly.

CELINE:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He can be an

a**hole, but he gets things done.

That's how I'm gonna be from now on-

JESSE:

Okay.

CELINE:

A real b*tch, okay? That's it.

JESSE:

Okay. Well every time I look at

that guy, all I see is ambition. I

mean, I'm sorry, I just don't trust

him. The only reason he's going

from non-profit to government is to

have people kiss his ass.

9.

CELINE:

I don't care about him, okay?

JESSE:

All right, and I think you're gonna

be miserable, all right? Just with

all that politicking and compromising--

CELINE:

Whatever. I've made my decision.

I'm tired of being the do-gooder

that rolls a boulder up a hill and

watches it roll down again.

JESSE:

Isn't he the guy that used to throw

his pens at his assistant and stuff?

CELINE:

Okay, I should have taken this job a

year ago. You know, and I was scared

because of the amount of work, but I

think it's the best opportunity ever

and it's more money and... I'm doing

it.

JESSE:

Okay. Are you sure?

CELINE:

No, I'm not sure of anything, okay?

JESSE:

All right, all right-

CELINE:

I mean, you know, what's gonna happen

to everyone if I leave? Like

Francoise, and I mean, they count on

me. What do you think? Should I

take it or not, should... Should I?

JESSE:

Ah, no, no, no, I don't have an

opinion. I just don't want to see

you rush into a decision because of

this wind turbine crap.

CELINE:

No! It's not just that, okay? It's

been stirring in me all summer...

JESSE:

Well, I know it has. I know.

10.

CELINE:

...And I should do it. And I'm doing

it!

JESSE:

All right then, just - then do it.

CELINE:

I'm doing it, all right? Oh, god.

I wish things were simpler. I mean,

if I leave I get f***ed, if I stay I

get f***ed...

JESSE:

(laughs)

There's always a catch.

CELINE:

Yeah, the world is f***ed.

JESSE:

Yeah, baby.

CELINE:

Oh, god. We finally have a vacation

and the girls are sick for the first

two weeks.

JESSE:

Or the perfect son who lives a million

miles away.

CELINE:

Or the love of your life can't clean

up after himself or learn how to

shave.

JESSE:

Who's that? You're not, you're not

talking about Captain Clean-up over

here, are you? You don't mean-

CELINE:

Captain Clean-up! The one that's

been missing in action all these

years!

JESSE:

What did you expect at this point in

your life, missy?

Celine turns back to look at the twins.

11.

CELINE:

God! Oh, look at them; they're so

cute! They look like conjoined twins!

Oh my god, I gotta take a picture.

She takes out her cell phone and takes a picture. Jesse

reaches back for something he can't quite find.

JESSE:

Hey, did uh, did Ella finish that

apple?

CELINE:

You're going to take food out of

your child's mouth?

JESSE:

Yeah.

Celine reaches back and grabs a half-eaten apple off the

seat.

CELINE:

Okay. Well. It's all brown.

JESSE:

Oh, there's a spot here.

He takes a bite from the green part of the apple. Celine is

now filming him with the camera.

CELINE:

Ella - this is evidence of your father

stealing food from you. If you become

bulimic or anorexic, it is not my

fault. Don't blame it all on your

mother, okay?

JESSE:

Ella, this is a family apple. I'm

teaching you the value of sharing.

I love you honey.

CELINE:

Ohh, so sweet. You girls will

remember this vacation very

differently than we will.

JESSE:

That's for sure. I see that with my

mom. She remembers my childhood

entirely differently than I do. Can

you please stop filming me.

Celine puts the phone away.

12.

CELINE:

God. I love your mom. You're always

so hard on her.

JESSE:

It's because you missed the f***ed

up years. You're just getting the

good era.

CELINE:

The "f***ed up years." That reminds

me, talking about f***ed up... did I

ever tell you the story of my little

Cleopatra kitty? No? Okay, I think

you would remember if I did. When I

was a little girl I had this cat

named Cleopatra and every spring she

would jump the fence and get pregnant

and always end up with a litter of

exactly two kittens.

JESSE:

Two kitties?

CELINE:

Two kitties. Every time, every year,

two cats. I mean it was just...

amazing. Then one day, I was around

30 and I was having lunch with my

Dad, I was remembering, mentioning

little Cleopatra and he was like '

the hardest thing I ever had to do

was to kill those cute little kittens'and

I was like WHAT? It turns out-listen

to this--there were sometimes

up to 7 kittens in that litter--

JESSE:

Oh, no.

CELINE:

But he would take five of them-

JESSE:

Oh, no.

CELINE:

--Put them into a plastic bag with a

bunch of ether.

JESSE:

(laughs)

That's terrible.

13.

CELINE:

He had forgotten the lie he and my

mom had told me as a kid.

JESSE:

How did he decide which ones he wanted

to kill?

CELINE:

Well, I actually asked him that.

Did you take the fluffiest, cutest?

He just started to cry.

JESSE:

Oh.

CELINE:

Poor 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.

JESSE:

Yeah, but should we?

CELINE:

Well, Ella really wanted to.

JESSE:

Yeah, but should we wake them up?

CELINE:

I don't know.

JESSE:

You know what, let's do this. On

our way back to the airport we can

catch them.

CELINE:

You know we won't.

JESSE:

Yeah, probably not.

CELINE:

Okay.

JESSE:

We'll be like, so long, ancient ruins!

What's so great about you anyway?

14.

CELINE:

Psh! Seen one, seen them all! Oh

my god, we are shitty parents. We

should have stopped.

JESSE:

Aw, it's okay.

CELINE:

It's culture. Come on, go back.

JESSE:

Ah, we gotta put some character in

these kids somehow, you know what I

mean?

CELINE:

Yeah, yeah.

JESSE:

We're teaching them a valuable lesson,

you know. You snooze, you lose in

this world.

CELINE:

And when the girls are in rehab,

recovering from ten years of addiction

to coke and speed, they'll say, "oh,

we just never felt comfortable going

to sleep because our daddy always

used to tell us, "you snooze, you

lose." And that'll be your fault

again.

JESSE:

(laughing)

Okay, okay. Well, we are shitty

parents.

CELINE:

I know.

JESSE:

Saying goodbye to Hank sucked.

CELINE:

Why, was he upset?

JESSE:

No, no. He said it was the best

summer of his life.

CELINE:

Well, that's great!

(MORE)

15.

CELINE (CONT'D)

I mean, I wouldn't worry too much

about him. We spoke a bunch, and

you know what his main concerns in

life are?

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