Beginners Page #15

OLIVER (CONT’D)

You said you were coming here?!

ANNA:

Yeah, but I didn’t leave.

OLIVER:

F***. I’m in your building.

Anna laughs.

ANNA (V.O.)

Okay. See the window? Near the

radiator?

Oliver looks around and sees the radiator - goes to look.

ANNA:

There is a hide-a-key behind it.

INT. ANNA’S APARTMENT.

The door opens, Oliver tentatively enters the empty room.

The apartment is very spare, barely lived in. A lone couch,

clothes on a rack, a few personal photos taped to the wall.

OLIVER:

Okay, I’m inside. Wow, there’s like

nothing here.

ANNA:

No.

Oliver moves forward into the kitchen.

ANNA (V.O.)

This is my kitchen. It’s where I

eat.

Oliver follows her tour, while she’s not there, it’s

strangely intimate.

ANNA (V.O.)

This is my bathroom. It’s very

fancy.

The bare, poor bathroom is not fancy.

ANNA (V.O.)

Outside my window...

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 88.

CONTINUED:

Oliver walks and looks out her window.

ANNA (V.O.)

... That’s my neighbor’s roof. The

room at the end is my bedroom...

INT. ANNA’S BEDROOM

Oliver enters her bedroom.

ANNA (V.O.)

That’s my closet. Those are my

clothes and my pictures.

There is a single rack holding up some clothes. Her pictures

are taped to the wall. Oliver sits on her bed.

ANNA:

Why do you leave everyone? Why did

you let me go?

Oliver thinks for a moment.

CUT TO PAST:

INT. OLIVER’S CHILDHOOD HOME - NIGHT

REPEAT MEMORY:
Oliver watches his mother walk down the

hallway, very alone, and enter her bedroom - it feels like

some gesture of hopelessness.

WE HEAR OLIVER’S ANSWER OVER THIS IMAGE:

OLIVER (V.O.)

Maybe because I, I don’t really

believe that it’s gonna work. And

then I make sure it doesn’t work.

CUT TO PAST:

INT. HAL’S LIVING-ROOM - DAY

Hal lies in the hospital bed set up in his living room.

JUAN, a young handsome and probably gay hospice nurse is

gently helping him take his morphine. Hal looks at Juan with

love and affection. Oliver watches from the kitchen door.

HAL:

Isn’t Juan’s hair wonderful.

JUAN:

Thanks. I use this great mousse.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 89.

CONTINUED:

HAL:

Well it’s terrific.

JUAN:

Do you wanna try some?

Hal turns shy and young.

HAL:

Oh, no.

JUAN:

Just a little bit?

HAL:

I don’t think so.

JUAN:

Come on. Just try a little bit.

It’ll be fun.

HAL:

(laughs)

Yeah?

JUAN:

Yeah.

HAL:

How do you do it?

JUAN:

Okay, I’m going to show you how.

Juan steps away and grabs his mousse, puts a little in his

hand and sits back down on Hal’s bed. He begins to spread

it gently through wisps of Hal’s white hair. Oliver watches

Hal close his eyes, and deeply enjoy this simple affection

and camaraderie with another gay man.

JUAN:

There.

HAL:

Is that it?

Hal looks into camera which is Oliver’s POV.

HAL:

How do I look?

Oliver’s filled with love, happiness, regret.

OLIVER:

Great. You look great.

CUT TO PRESENT:

10/29/07 90.

INT. ANNA’S BEDROOM

Oliver’s still on her bed, his heart and mind is somewhere

else.

CUT TO PAST:

INT. HAL'S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Hal’s unconscious on his hospital bed. Some of Hal’s friends

gather around his hospital bed as Hal’s gay priest gives him

his Last Rites - Oliver and Juan watch in disbelief in the

background.

INT. HAL'S KITCHEN - LATER

Oliver’s alone in the kitchen, his head on the table -

asleep. Juan walks to him and wakes him.

JUAN:

Oliver. He’s gone.

Oliver gets up. He can now see to the hospital bed, Hal's

lifeless profile. Oliver is lost.

Oliver goes to Hal, puts his head on his chest and cries.

CUT TO NARRATED SEQUENCE

CUT TO BLACK:

OLIVER (V.O.)

Once you make the call, you have

less than an hour before two men

come and place the body into a bag.

WE SEE STILL PHOTO OF A CHECK TO THE NEPTUNE SOCIETY, A JAR

OF PEANUT BUTTER, A METAL ASH CONTAINER.

OLVIER (V.O.)

They charge 1485 Dollars for

cremation and deliver the remains

in a small metal container, the

size of a jar of peanut butter. You

will need to get a death

certificate.

NOW HAL’S DEATH CERTIFICATE, CREDIT CARDS, PHONE BILLS,

INSURANCE STATEMENTS, MORTGAGE STATEMENT, TAX FORM

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 91.

CONTINUED:

OLIVER (V.O.)

You will need to make copies and

send them to cancel every credit

card, phone account, utility, gym

membership, every insurance policy,

mortgage, to settle their taxes.

A FAST SEQUENCE OF STILLS OF HAL’S MAIL PILING UP, THEN LIVE

ACTION SHOT OF A HAND WRITING THE OBITUARY. STILL PHOTO OF A

TRASH BAG, HAL’S PURPLE SWEATER.

OLIVER (V.O.)

You will have all their mail

forwarded to your address. You will

write their obituary. You run it

with a photo in the paper for two

dollars a word. You will wonder if

it’s right. You’ll throw a lot of

their stuff away. You'll bring a

lot of their stuff to your house.

This is the photo my mother kept in

her bedroom.

A STILL PHOTO OF DOROTHEA LANGE’S FRAMED DAISY PHOTOGRAPH.

THEN, MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE PHOTO WITH DIFFERENT HANDS AND

DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS OF DAISIES FLASHES BY.

OLIVER (V.O.)

When I was a kid I thought that was

my arm giving her daisies. Now I

make a new mistake and think it’s

her arm giving me the daisies,

saying, here, here's simple and

happy. That's what I meant to give

you.

EXT. ANDY’S HOUSE - DAY

Oliver arrives at Andy's door. Andy answers, Arthur's jumps

up to see Oliver.

OLIVER:

Hey.

ANDY:

Hey.

OLIVER:

Arthur...

Oliver picks him up, he gets all of Arthur's stuff, he's a

little cold to Andy.

OLIVER:

Thank you... Thanks.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 92.

CONTINUED:

ANDY:

It's cause I'm gay, isn't it?

Oliver stops and looks back.

OLIVER:

What?

ANDY:

You never called or came to see me?

Oliver falters, not know how to say it, then...

OLIVER:

No. No, it's because my father

loved you so much.

This hits Andy hard. Oliver turns to leave but can’t. He

turns back, goes to Andy and they hug.

INT. OLIVER’S BEDROOM

Oliver and Arthur arrive, happy and relieved, Oliver jumps on

his bed and Arthur follows.

OLIVER:

Arthur... hey. Hey, how’ve you

been?

INT. OLIVER’S HOUSE - LIVING ROOM

Oliver opens the front door to Anna.

OLIVER:

Hey.

She’s a bit tentative, but she’s here and happy.

ANNA:

Hey.

OLIVER:

Come in, come in.

Arthur runs up and Anna bends down to greet him. They missed

each other.

Anna walks in and Oliver follows.

ANNA:

The living room.

She heads to the dinning room.

(CONTINUED)

10/29/07 93.

CONTINUED:

ANNA:

Dining room...

Oliver laughs nervously. In the dining room, Hal’s old boxes

are still stacked along the walls. Oliver leans forward and

pulls something out of a box.

She looks at a personal ad application, with the picture of

Hal in the open jean jacket we saw at the beginning of the

film.

ANNA:

Oh. Crazy picture...

OLIVER:

Yeah.

ANNA:

Can I read it?

OLIVER:

Sure.

ANNA:

I’m looking for sex with the hope

it turns into friendship or a

relationship. But I don’t insist

on monogamy.

Rate this script:3.5 / 2 votes