Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Page #15

CLEMENTINE:

Joel, I'm not a concept. I want you to

just keep that in your head. Too many

guys think I'm a concept or I complete

them or I'm going to make them alive, but

I'm just a f***ed-up girl who is looking

for my own peace of mind. Don't assign

me yours.

JOEL:

I remember that speech really well.

CLEMENTINE:

(smiling)

I had you pegged, didn't I?

JOEL:

You had the whole human race pegged.

CLEMENTINE:

Probably.

JOEL:

I still thought you were going to save

me. Even after that.

CLEMENTINE:

I know.

JOEL:

It would be different, if we could just

give it another go around.

CLEMENTINE:

Remember me. Try your best. Maybe we

can.

The scene is gone.

INT. ROB AND CARRIE'S CAR - NIGHT

Joel sits forlornly in the back seat. Rob drives and Carrie

sits in the front passenger seat. The car stops in front of

Joel's apartment building.

JOEL:

Thanks, guys.

CARRIE:

I hope you feel better, sweetie.

JOEL:

Yeah.

CARRIE:

Say hi to Naomi.

The car door closes.

INT. BUILDING STAIRWAY - NIGHT

Joel climbs the stairs.

VOICE-OVER

I hope she's not up. I need to think.

INT. JOEL'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

The lights are off. Joel sits on a chair near the window,

writing in his journal. The streetlight illuminates the

paper. Naomi sleeps in the bed.

VOICE-OVER

I met someone tonight at a party on the

beach. Her name is Clementine. There is

something alive about her.

Naomi turns over in bed, sees Joel.

NAOMI:

(full of sleep)

Hi.

JOEL:

Hi.

NAOMI:

How was it?

JOEL:

You didn't miss much. Rob Carrie say

hello.

NAOMI:

Hi, Rob and Carrie.

JOEL:

Go back to sleep.

The room is starting to decompose.

NAOMI:

Yeah. Come to bed. I'm cold.

JOEL:

In a minute.

Naomi turns over. Joel goes back to his writing.

VOICE-OVER

(more and more emotionless)

I don't know what to do about this. I've

been feeling so alienated and numb

lately. Forever. The thought of not

acknowledging my feelings again seems

self-destructive.

How can I continue on this path toward a

living death, a life filled with

obligation and guilt and responsibility

but joyless, hopeless? I need to speak

with Clementine.

The scene has turned to a husk.

INT. JOEL'S APARTMENT - AFTERNOON

Joel is at his closet, putting on a sweater. Naomi is at the

dining room table, papers spread out before her, writing.

Joel turns and watches her for a moment.

JOEL:

So you don't mind?

NAOMI:

I've got to finish this chapter anyway.

The scene is fading.

JOEL:

Okay. I wish you could come.

VOICE-OVER

This is it. The night we met. My God,

it's over.

NAOMI (CONT'D)

Me, too.

He approaches Naomi, kisses her on the top of the head. She

continues to write.

NAOMI (CONT'D)

Say hi to Rob and Carrie. Have some fun!

JOEL:

I hope you get your work done.

NAOMI:

(sighing)

Yeah.

INT. ROB AND CARRIE'S CAR - NIGHT

Rob drives. Carrie fiddles with the radio dial in the front

passenger seat. Joel sits in the back.

CARRIE:

I'm sorry Naomi couldn't make it. You

okay? You seem quiet.

JOEL:

Just a little overworked, maybe.

VOICE-OVER

The trip to the party where I met

Clementine. My first memory of her is

now my last memory of her.

Joel looks out the window. Carrie turns around and says

something to Joel. She is backlit, her hair a halo of frizz.

JOEL:

I remember you turned around. Your face

was dark and your hair was backlit -- I

could see a halo of frizz -- you asked me

if things were okay between Naomi and me.

CARRIE:

I did. You said, things were fine.

JOEL:

I remember.

CARRIE:

This is the night you met Clementine,

Joel. I remember watching you walk down

the beach with her and I thought, oh

sh*t.

JOEL:

Yeah, you told me that later.

CARRIE:

I told you that later.

Joel looks out he window. He sees the husk of a memory on

the darkened roadside. It's Joel and Carrie in:

INT. ROB AND CARRIE'S KITCHEN - DAY

Faded. Carrie and Joel sit at the table with coffee.

CARRIE:

Who was the girl you walked off with?

JOEL:

No one.

EXT. BEACH PARKING LOT - NIGHT

Rob, Carrie, and Joel emerge from the car, parked amidst a

small cluster of cars in an otherwise empty parking lot.

EXT. BEACH - NIGHT

Joel watches his shoes in the sand as he trudges along.

CARRIE:

Is this the right way?

EXT. BEACH - MOMENTS LATER

Joel, Rob, and Carrie step out of the brush and see a bonfire

down the beach. People and music can be heard.

EXT. BEACH - LATER

Joel sits on a log, a paper plate of chicken and corn on his

lap. People warm themselves at the fire. Joel watches

couples talking, kissing, Rob sharing a joint with a guy.

JOEL:

You were down by the surf. I could just

make you out in the dark.

Joel looks down to the water. There's Clementine, in her

orange hooded sweatshirt, looking out to sea.

JOEL (CONT'D)

Your back to me. In that orange

sweatshirt I would come to know so well

and even hate eventually. At the time I

thought, how cool, an orange sweatshirt.

VOICE-OVER

I remember being drawn to you even then.

I thought, I love this woman because

she's alone down there looking out at the

black ocean.

JOEL (CONT'D)

But I went back to my food. The next

thing I remember, I felt someone sitting

next to me and I saw the orange sleeve

out of the corner of my eye.

A shot of the orange sleeve. Joel looks up.

CLEMENTINE:

Hi there.

JOEL:

Hi.

VOICE-OVER

I was so nervous. What were you doing

there, I wondered. Your hair was lime

green. Green revolution.

A shot of her green hair.

JOEL:

You said...

CLEMENTINE:

I saw you sitting over here. By

yourself. I thought, thank God, someone

normal, who doesn't know how interact at

these things either.

JOEL:

Yeah. I don't ever know what to say.

CLEMENTINE:

I can't tell you how happy I am to hear

that. I mean, I don't mean I'm happy

you're uncomfortable, but, yknow... I'm

such a loser. Every time I come to a

party I tell myself I'm going to be

different and it's always exactly the

same and then I hate myself after for

being such a clod.

JOEL:

Even then I didn't believe you entirely.

I thought how could you be talking to me

if you couldn't talk to people?

VOICE-OVER

But I thought, I don't know, I thought it

was cool that you were sensitive enough

to know what I was feeling and that you

were attracted to it.

CLEMENTINE:

But, I don't know, maybe we're the normal

ones, y'know? I mean, what kind of

people do well at this stuff?

VOICE-OVER

And I just liked you so much.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

You did? You liked me?

JOEL:

You know what I did.

CLEMENTINE:

Yeah, I know. I'm fishing.

JOEL:

You said --

She picks a drumstick off of Joel's plate.

CLEMENTINE:

I'm Clementine. Can I borrow a piece of

your chicken?

JOEL:

And you picked it out of my plate before

I could answer and it felt so intimate

like we were already lovers.

JOEL (CONT'D)

I remember --

VOICE-OVER

The grease on your chin in the bonfire

light.

Shot of a smudge of chicken grease on Clementine's chin.

CLEMENTINE:

Oh God, how horrid.

JOEL:

I'm Joel.

VOICE-OVER

No, it was lovely.

CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)

Hi, Joel. So no jokes about my name?

JOEL:

You mean, like...

(singing)

Oh, my darlin', oh, my darlin', oh, my

darlin', Clementine... ? Huckleberry

Hound? That sort of thing?

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes