Eisenstein in Guanajuato Page #4

Makes two days out of one.

But really, you must do it properly.

Undress,

and the most important thing of all,

sleep between cool sheets.

No snoozing in your day clothes.

You must be naturally drowsy.

Give in. The best sleep of the day.

Drift away.

Then you go to bed.

(GRUNTS) And pretend you are dead.

(WHISPERS) Silent.

Still.

The best sleep you will know

when you are not dead.

And you are cheating death. (CHUCKLES)

Go on, take your clothes off.

I have a clumsy, unattractive body.

It's not unattractive. I have seen it.

You make it unattractive.

Your belief in your ugliness

is a sort of exhibitionism.

You are vain about your ugliness.

I have a coward's bravery.

Short arms, big head,

big feet.

I have the correct physiognomy for a clown.

(CHUCKLES)

No woman could ever take

a delight in my body.

Why not? Clowns are loved by women.

Their helpless foolishness is appealing.

Is that really the problem, do you think?

That you have believed that no woman

could approve of your body?

Or your prick?

So you have denied them.

I have a prick only fit for peeing.

(LAUGHING)

That could be very usefully true.

But it cannot be all.

Make it rise.

(CHUCKLES)

You see? It takes on a brand-new life.

Respect it.

(BREATHES DEEPLY, GROANS)

I am not going to deny myself sleep any more.

We will discuss your prick later

when we wake up.

Now take a shower and lay down.

Mmm.

I am already falling over the cliff

into the abyss of sleep.

This is really the way to fall into this.

Delightful.

Guiltless.

Unfatigued.

This way, you will not dream.

I never dream during a siesta.

(LINE TRILLING)

Pera? Pera?

Is that you?

- PERA:
(ON PHONE) What's that noise?

- I'm in the shower.

Water. Warm rain.

I am in Guanajuato,

and there is a man in my bed.

- What is he doing there?

- Sleeping.

It's early afternoon. Siesta time.

We should learn to take siestas in Moscow.

What are you doing?

What should I be doing here in Moscow?

Nothing much, writing invoices,

typing scripts for the publisher,

being your secretary,

looking after your interests

whilst you're away,

refusing chocolates and visits

to the cinema from Boris.

Pera, why don't you drop everything

and come to Mexico

and rescue me from men

falling asleep in my bed?

I could never get a visa.

And there is no money for foreign visits.

We have shot over 70 miles of film, 20 hours.

I have a lot of ideas,

though they keep changing.

Usual stuff. It's gonna be a great film.

People here are saying you won't come back.

Of course I'm coming back.

Sergei, be careful.

Don't get mad at me,

but your American experience

could act against you.

They've stopped paying your mother.

Don't worry, I'm getting

something through to her,

though she continues to be very rude

and condescending to me,

the b*tch.

Sorry.

You know there is no love lost between us.

His name is Caedo.

- Whose name?

- (METALLIC CLANGING)

The man in my bed. He's my guide.

And what else is he to you?

He's an instructor

of comparative religion.

Since when have you needed

instruction in religion?

We talk about Mexico and death.

He's my guide to the Underworld.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Pera? Pera? Are you still there?

The line is very bad.

I hear all sorts of noises,

like someone banging a hammer on metal.

A spanner on a radiator.

No, that's here, upstairs or somewhere.

Sergei, think of yourself.

Think of coming back soon.

They are starting to ask even little me

all sorts of questions, like,

"What do the Americans think of Sergei?"

Using your first name,

suggesting we are intimate.

I'm not with Americans any more.

I'm with Mexicans,

an entirely different race of people.

Pera? Pera? Pera, are you there?

- You are a long way off.

- (CHUCKLES)

You're right. I'm in Mexico.

(DISTANT BANGING)

(BANGING PIPES)

It is 9:
45,

a quarter to 10:
00 on the 25th October.

The official time we stormed

the Winter Palace.

14 years to the minute

when the Revolution began.

Ten days that shook the world.

Except we have now changed calendars,

and it's all happening in November.

And anyway, if it's 9:45 here in Mexico,

it can't be 9:
45 in Moscow.

The anniversary was over ten hours ago.

We missed it.

Then Eisenstein did it all over again.

He recreated the Russian Revolution

all over again on film.

Though much bigger and much better

than the first time round.

- (CHUCKLES)

- And twice as expensive.

With Eisenstein's version,

the street cleaners complained.

They took three days

cleaning up the broken glass.

"The first time around," they said,

"People were more considerate.

"They made far less mess."

ALEKSANDROV:

They thought the first revolution

was, was better choreographed.

They thought Eisenstein's version

wasn't worth filming.

It was a waste of film, they said.

TISSE:
With Eisenstein, there were

much more windows broken,

more statues chipped by ricocheting bullets,

and much more noise.

The original revolution had apparently been

a fairly quiet affair,

with no swearing and no bad language.

(ORCHESTRA PLAYING)

(GUNS FIRING)

Eisenstein is very equivocal about women.

And he really is a vulgar, fat little chap.

Any opportunity to pass on obscenity,

he will fart it through.

Sublimated sexual frustration.

He can be very crude about women.

He can't do the sex, so he'll talk it.

Come on, let's take the young woman home.

(CHANTING)

(ALL CHANTING)

A present,

so you can celebrate your Russian Revolution

far from home.

Congratulations, Mr Russian Film Director.

(CHUCKLES) Thank you.

I will wave it and remember.

(CHANTING CONTINUES)

(THUNDER CRACKING)

(DISTANT BELL TOLLING)

(DISTANT THUNDER RUMBLES)

Turn around.

(DISTANT THUNDER RUMBLES)

Initiation ceremony.

Formal initiation into life

was essential for the Aztecs,

a full ritual.

You have left it a little late, Sergei.

But doesn't matter. Better late than never.

Better never late.

You are far from home

and off your home initiation ground.

I cannot.

Cannot what?

Why not?

Because I have argued with myself repeatedly

that this cannot be the way.

I have reached my accustomed point,

and this is where I stop.

It used to be where you may have stopped.

It isn't any longer.

This is where I get off the train.

(CHUCKLES) Sorry, no station.

Well, then I will have to jump.

(CHUCKLES)

Jumping off a moving train

could be dangerous.

And your prick tells you

you have a first-class ticket

to continue the journey.

My prick is a stowaway,

an even sadder clown than me.

He wears a sad clown's helmet.

He's a wiser clown than you.

Follow where he leads.

And if you won't lead,

let me.

I am the guard.

I will be at the back of the train.

(DISTANT THUNDER RUMBLES)

(WHIMPERING)

(GRUNTS) It hurts, it stings!

I'm going to vomit!

- Shh, shh, shh.

- (GROANS)

That's what every virgin must say.

(CHUCKLES)

That's what the virginal New World said.

- I'm bleeding.

- So you are.

Every virgin is supposed to bleed,

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