Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Page #14

CLEMENTINE:

I'll buy that. Black's always good.

JOEL:

We did talk about Naomi.

CLEMENTINE:

I said:
Are you sure? You seem unsure.

JOEL:

I'm sure, I said.

CLEMENTINE:

But you weren't. I could tell.

JOEL:

I was so nervous. I remember I couldn't

think of anything to say. There were

long silences.

There is a long silence.

JOEL (CONT'D)

I thought I was foolish. I thought I'd

mistaken infatuation for love. You said:

CLEMENTINE:

So what. Infatuation is good, too.

JOEL:

And I didn't have an argument.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Joel and Clementine pull up to Clementine's house.

JOEL:

I dropped you off after. You said --

CLEMENTINE:

(Mae West)

Come up and see me... now.

JOEL:

It's very late.

CLEMENTINE:

Yes, exactly. Exactly my point.

INT. CLEMENTINE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Joel and Clementine are in the midst of awkward shy sex.

JOEL:

This was our first time.

The scene starts to fade. Joel watches Clementine disappear.

INT. LACUNA RECEPTION AREA - NIGHT

Mary enters the dark room, frazzled. She flips on the

fluorescent lights and searches the file folders, finds one

with her name on it. Her jaw drops. With a shaky hand, she

puts the tape into the player on her desk and presses "play."

MIERZWIAK VOICE:

Okay, so just tell me what you remember.

And we'll take it from there.

MARY'S VOICE

(shaky)

Um, I liked you immediately. At the job

interview. You seemed so... important

and mature. And I loved that you were

helping all these people. You didn't

come on to me at all. I liked that. I

was tongue-tied around you at first. I

wanted you to think I was smart. You

were so nice. I loved the way you

smelled. I couldn't wait to come to

work. I had these fantasies of us being

married and having kids and just...

(starts to cry)

...and so... then... when...

that one day, when I thought you looked

at me back... like... Oh, Howie, I can't

do this? How can I do this?

MIERZWIAK VOICE:

It's what's best, Mary. You know that.

Mary slumps to the floor. We move into her eyes.

MARY'S VOICE

Yeah, I know. Oh, God. Okay, well, I

was so excited...

A SERIES OF MURKY IMAGES. NO DETAIL.

A flirtatious look from Mierzwiak.

MARY'S VOICE (CONT'D)

...Remember you bought me that little

wind-up frog?

A vague shot of a wind-up frog.

MARY'S VOICE (CONT'D)

And you said...

A vague shot of Mierzwiak mouthing to Mary's voice.

MARY'S VOICE (CONT'D)

"This is for your desk. Just a little

token"

Back to Mary sitting on the floor, listening to the tape.

MARY'S VOICE (CONT'D)

I knew then... I knew something was going

to happen... something wonderful.

INT. JOEL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Joel sits in the quiet living room. The scene is fading.

JOEL:

Naomi.

VOICE-OVER

On the couch. Dark. Quiet. I wondered

if I had made a terrible mistake. I

almost reached for the phone about a

thousand times. I thought I could take

it back, erase it, explain I had

momentarily lost my mind. Then I told

myself we weren't happy. That was the

truth. That what we were was safe.

It was unfair to you and to me to stay in

a relationship for that reason. I

thought about Clementine and the spark

when I was with her, but then I thought

what you and I had was real and adult and

therefore significant even if it wasn't

much fun. But I wanted fun. I saw

other people having fun and I wanted it.

Then I thought fun is a lie, that no one

is really having fun; I'm being suckered

by advertising and movie bullshit... then

I thought maybe not, maybe not. And then

I thought, as I always do at this point

in my argument, about dying.

INT. ROOM - DAY

An elderly man sits.

VOICE-OVER

I projected myself to the end of my life

in some vague rendition of my old man

self. I imagined looking back with a

tremendous hole of regret in my heart.

INT. JOEL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

Joel sits.

VOICE-OVER

I didn't pick up the phone to call you,

Naomi. I didn't pick up the phone.

The scene dissolves.

INT. JOEL'S APARTMENT - DAY

Namoi is red-eyed from crying. She is packing things in

boxes. Joel paces, steals glances at her, doesn't know what

to say. She holds up a book. The scene starts to fade.

NAOMI:

Yours?

JOEL:

You take it. I don't know.

She tosses it in a box.

JOEL (CONT'D)

Naomi, I really value our relationship.

I hope it's possible for us to stay in

touch.

NAOMI:

Don't do this to me now, Joel. Really.

INT. JOEL'S BEDROOM - DAY

Joel watches out the window as Naomi stuffs a final box in

the trunk of a car. There's another woman down there with

her. They get into the car and drive off.

INT. BORDER'S BOOKSTORE - NIGHT

Joel talks to Clementine. The scene is fogging over.

JOEL:

I told her today I need to end it.

CLEMENTINE:

Is that what you want?

JOEL:

I did it. I guess that means something.

Clementine shrugs. The scene fades.

EXT. PARK - DAY

Joel walks with Naomi.

NAOMI:

So what's going on, Joel?

JOEL:

I don't know, I've just been thinking,

maybe we're not happy with each other.

NAOMI:

What?

JOEL:

Y'know, we've been, I don't know, sort

of, unhappy with each other and --

NAOMI:

Don't say "we" when you mean "you."

JOEL:

I think maybe, we're both so used to

operating at this level that -- How can

one person be unhappy? If one person is

unhappy, both have to be... by

definition.

NAOMI:

Bullshit. Who is it? You met someone.

JOEL:

No. I just need some space, maybe.

NAOMI:

The thing is, Joel, whatever it is you

think you have with this chick, once the

thrill wears off, you're just going to be

Joel with the same f***ing problems.

JOEL:

It's not somebody else.

VOICE-OVER

I hate myself.

Naomi walks off. Joel watches her. The scene fades.

INT. BORDER'S BOOKSTORE - NIGHT

Joel enters, looks around. There's no sign of Clementine.

Joel approaches a male employee.

JOEL:

Is there a Clementine who works here?

MALE EMPLOYEE #1

(calling to another male

employee)

Mark, is Clem on tonight?

MALE EMPLOYEE #2

On my dick, bro.

(turns, sese Joel, embarrassed)

Oh, hey. Yeah, I think she's upstairs in

Philosophy.

Joel climbs stairs, searches the aisle, spots Clementine.

JOEL:

Hi.

She turns.

CLEMENTINE:

I didn't think you'd show your face

around me again. I figured you were

humiliated. You did run away, after all.

JOEL:

Sorry to track you down like this. I'm

not a stalker. But I needed to see you.

CLEMENTINE:

(seemingly uninterested)

Yeah?

JOEL:

I'd like to... take you out or something.

CLEMENTINE:

Well, you're married.

JOEL:

Not yet. Not married.

CLEMENTINE:

Look, man, I'm telling you right off the

bat, I'm high maintenance. So I'm not

going to tiptoe around your marriage or

whatever it is you got going there. If

you want to be with me, you're with me.

JOEL:

Okay.

CLEMENTINE:

So make your domestic decisions and maybe

we'll talk again.

She goes back to stacking. Joel stands there helplessly.

JOEL:

I just think that you have some kind

of... quality that seems really important

to me.

The scene is disintegrating. Clementine's speech is

delivered without passion.

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