Collateral Beauty Page #5

You know,

I should be the one

that's writing angry letters.

That was the worst thing I've ever done.

That was the best thing I've ever done.

What was that thing you said

about Einstein in there?

Einstein called time

a stubbornly persistent illusion.

What's that even mean?

Time doesn't go from January to December,

or from noon to midnight.

You know, we all just make it that way

in our heads.

That's absurd.

Try telling that to a person

who's an hour late to a wedding

or was just sentenced to 20 years in jail.

(SCOFFS)

Or someone fighting a baby clock.

We really don't need

to have this conversation, ever.

Anyway, just...

Yeah, wanted to say great job today.

Just a stubborn illusion, Claire.

You have all the time in the world.

You're nine!

"You're nine."

Hi.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Um...

You gotta be friggin' kidding me.

I'm eating.

You said goodbye, and that...

(SIGHS) We don't get to choose

who we love or who loves us back.

And that means you're powerless to me

as long as you're alive

because I'm the fabric of life.

I'm within you. I'm within everything.

Howard,

if you can accept that, then maybe...

I don't know,

but maybe you get to live again.

I completely screwed it up.

I was weepy and apologetic.

Well, I think love can be

weepy and apologetic.

I think I was better at the end.

Hey, hey. I'm sure you were great.

You're sweet.

Can I kiss you?

You don't have to sexualize it.

I can kiss you without sexualizing it.

Seriously, I've had sex

without sexualizing it.

You should take "sweet," Whit.

It's a promotion.

"Irresistible" would be a promotion.

He believes it.

How could you tell?

I could tell by his eyes.

That's great, but no one else has seen it

and that's ultimately

what we need to have happen.

We think if you would engage with him

- one more time, um, in public.

- Great. Mmm-hmm.

WHIT:
But this time try to...

SIMON:
But you need to provoke

a strong visible reaction.

Why?

Because our private investigator's

gonna capture it on video.

And we're gonna use it as evidence.

It'll be like being in a movie.

Except you'll be digitally removed.

No.

Sorry?

This is too intense.

Um, I'm sorry. I can't be a part of this.

Amy, there is no "too intense" in acting.

Do you wanna be loved

or do you wanna make an impact?

I mean, this isn't Nol Coward.

This is... This is Chekhov.

This is horrible!

The... You know,

you did start the agency

with him, didn't you, Whit?

And, Claire, he was your mentor.

And, Simon, he gave you part

ownership in a business

when he absolutely didn't have to.

- I may have told her a few things...

- Mmm-hmm.

- ...when we were...

- Mmm-hmm.

AMY:
I'm sorry, this is horrible.

I... I can't...

No, I can't be a part of this. Thank you.

- Sorry. Thanks.

- Amy, no.

Amy.

Amy. No.

Oh, she's so passionate, you know.

Amy!

I'm so sorry. She will be back.

But if she isn't, um,

I'll step in. I do know all about love.

Amy!

What'd I miss?

People crying because their kids died.

Hmm. Uh...

Uh, there's a thing called

bereavement hallucinations.

Yes.

Right. Um. Okay.

So, uh...

I looked them up.

And here's the thing. I don't sleep.

Okay.

(STAMMERING) Like, not a lot.

I mean, I sleep.

Mmm.

But I get six or seven hours a week.

Now that I think about it,

that's probably why...

Why what?

Um...

(SIGHS)

I'm having conversations.

Mmm-hmm.

I mean, conversations.

Okay.

It's okay. Never mind. Um...

- Howard?

- Yeah.

You wanna have a conversation with me?

Uh, yes.

So, I assume you're a part of the 79%?

Mmm?

Of couples who get divorced

after losing a child.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Yeah, me too.

Do you still love her?

I don't even know what love is anymore.

Do you still love him?

We never fell out of love.

At least, I don't think so. It's just...

We can...

(SIGHS)

The day our divorce was final,

he sent me this.

"If only we could be strangers again."

Now we are.

The most romantic gesture he ever made.

So, to answer your question,

yes,

I still love him.

What did you mean

when you said

you were having conversations?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Conversations with who?

- Um...

It's not "who."

It's really... It's...

You're gonna think I'm crazy.

Try me.

Um, can I show you?

MADELINE:
"Dead tissue

that won't decompose."

He was sitting right here.

Just a mean, little, arrogant thug.

And he was the first one

that appeared, right?

Uh, no. Death came first.

She met me in the dog park.

Oh, so Death is a "her"?

Uh, yeah. It turns out

Death is an elderly white woman.

What was the trade?

You said Death wouldn't make the trade.

What does that mean?

When we realized our...

My daughter was dying, I prayed, uh...

Not to God or the universe, but to Death.

I offered a trade.

Take me,

leave my daughter.

But she didn't wanna make the trade, so...

BRIGITTE:
So, who won that round?

You or the porcelain?

(CHUCKLES) Porcelain.

Porcelain's undefeated.

I'm sorry about that,

I thought everyone left.

Yes, they did. But I'm here to close up.

SIMON:
Good.

You need help getting home?

No. I'm fine.

I'm... I'm good.

I Googled you.

- You did?

- Yeah.

(WHISPERS) Oh, God.

You came from nothing.

You put yourself through Duke,

you married a wonderful woman,

you're a loving father.

So, you lived well. You lived right.

But, my friend, you're not dying right.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

Are you gonna tell me how to die?

Have you told your family yet?

- Mmm-mmm.

- You're not helping them.

You're just denying them

what is rightfully theirs.

Yeah? And what's that?

Pain? Atrophy? Disease?

Yes. Yes.

All of it.

And the chance to say goodbye.

Stick to acting.

MADELINE:
Okay.

I have something

that I haven't told anyone.

It doesn't involve letters

or angels or anything like that,

but it means something to me.

They were preparing Olivia to say goodbye.

And my husband was trying to

calm my mother in the parking lot

because she lost it.

So I was alone

and I was sitting there

in the waiting room

at Maimonides Hospital.

And there was this woman

who sat next to me.

And she asked me who I was about to lose.

And I told her.

And she looked at me and she said,

"Just be sure to notice

"the collateral beauty."

I mean, she...

She said it so casually.

In the next room,

my six-year-old daughter

was being taken off life support.

And this woman says "collateral beauty."

People don't know

what to say in those moments.

No, she did.

I just didn't get it at the time.

See, it wasn't said out of

sympathy or awkwardness.

It was from experience.

About a year later,

something started to

happen to me, you know.

I would be walking

or on the subway, whatever,

and I would just burst into tears.

But these weren't Olivia tears.

These were tears born from something else,

from this kind of profound

connection to everything.

And I realized

it was the collateral beauty.

I mean, there's...

There's no such thing

as collateral beauty.

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