Final Portrait Page #4

before I destroy everything.

Would you excuse me a moment?

Ahem.

- Oh, my God.

- What?

- How much longer can it go on like this?

- It could go on forever.

He says a portrait can never be finished.

I can understand that.

Of course not. I'm amazed

I've ever seen a portrait of his.

I think I'm gonna die in there.

I can't keep going like this.

I've gotta get back to New York.

I've already pushed my trip so many times

and it's costing me a fortune.

Well, maybe you could set a deadline.

Alberto like to work up

against a deadline sometimes.

Yeah.

Maybe you could talk to him for me.

No.

- Please?

- No. No. No.

Well, at any rate,

I can't keep doing this.

It seems like we pose...

for hours and hours and nothing happens.

That's the reason

why I don't pose anymore.

Why? Thank you.

Because your whole life

can be swallowed up.

So, what do you think?

- It's lovely.

- Very pretty.

Merci. You should see my bag.

It's beautiful. I show you.

Alberto! Alberto!

- B*tch.

- Wake up!

Come and have a look!

- Oh, my God. My God.

- Wow.

Wow.

- No, no, no, no. You go ahead.

- But, Alberto...

- I don't want to.

- What's going on with him?

You said you wanted me

to drive you around.

I'll drive you around. Get in the car.

James, get in the car.

Oh, no. I'm gonna take a picture

of the portrait.

F*** that portrait. Get in the car.

- All right.

- Come on, James.

- I'll see you on the other side, eh?

- Come on.

- Are you cold?

- No.

I'm freezing.

- It's such a nice day out.

- Is it?

- Mm.

- Oh.

I'm freezing. Maybe it was from being

in that stupid car.

- What are you doing?

- It's gonna get hot.

You've got a heater on.

I'm gonna take my T-shirt off.

No, no, no. Keep it on. Sit down.

- Get your coat on.

- All right.

Sit down.

Let's go.

It's gone too far.

At the same time, not far enough.

I'll never find a way out of this.

Well, we could always just stop.

No, we can't stop.

I have to stop.

Okay.

Wow.

It looks really good.

What'd you do?

I have no idea.

I have to go and lie down.

Diego told me he wasn't feeling well.

He's got a fever. It's 39.

Mm.

Mm.

It's going to be a madhouse anyway.

Yeah, you're right. It...

All right, well, feel better,

and, uh, I'll come check on you tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Annette?

- A cognac?

- Yes.

- A small cognac.

- Of course.

- A small cognac.

- Thank you.

It sounds like a great time.

It makes me nervous to think about it.

James, I honestly thought

you'd love to come.

Well, listen, I'm not saying I wouldn't,

I'm just saying that particular...

- Bonjour, handsome.

- Hello, Caroline.

- Did I frighten you?

- Well...

- Did you get excited?

- I did until I realized it was a woman.

- May I introduce you to...

- I'll convert you, James.

- I'll put up a fight.

- Good. I like fights.

- Caroline!

- Yes, what?

- Are we going?

- I'm coming.

Bye, James. Give Alberto a kiss from me.

- You're not posing tonight?

- No, he's sick and, you know. Bye!

- Who is it?

- It's me.

- Jim.

- Ah, hello, Jim.

Someone's feeling better.

- Oh, yes, thank you, very much better.

- Just a little bit of tenderness.

- It was all he needed.

- Isn't it?

Yes, it's true.

Look at the tree.

I've never seen it look this way before.

- Yeah? You see them every day.

- I know, but it looks different.

Everything looks different.

It's more beautiful.

- And you.

- You're so sweet.

Okay, I've got to do the shopping.

- No, no, no, no.

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Stay here with me, darling.

- Go on stop it, I need to go shopping.

Thank you.

Well?

Shall we get going?

James, wait, wait.

Come on. Let's go for a walk.

I wish that I could see things

the way you do.

That's all I'm trying to do.

I just want to show

how things appear to me.

- But I'm unable to do that.

- No, that's not true.

When I was young,

I thought I could do everything.

When I grew up,

I realized I could do nothing.

That's what kept me going.

- Four more sittings. How does that sound?

- Thank you.

No, no, I mean,

I... I don't know how to thank you.

You don't have to do that.

We've worked on it together.

I don't know.

That's... I guess that's true.

I certainly don't feel

how Madame Czanne did.

What do you mean?

In the end she said

she just felt like an apple.

I never thought she was very funny.

I normally do the boat,

but it's a little bit of a longer journey.

Oh, my God. What happened?

- Did they take anything?

- No, no.

- Well, shall we call the police?

- No, no, no.

It wasn't thieves. They came for me.

It was Caroline's pimps.

It's a warning.

James, give me a hand with this thing.

- It will be the same price...

- No... in English, please.

It's going to be the same price.

Right.

Whether you sleep with her

or she just sit in front of you.

I see.

- Same price for both.

- Mm.

You don't want to charge me more for one?

- What?

- What is he saying?

He is asking if we want

to charge more for one than the other.

Which one would you charge me more for?

- For f***ing her.

- Yeah, to f***.

- To f*** her.

- We could charge you more for both things.

We can take more for both.

- Yeah, because it's cheap.

- Okay. Okay.

- I don't mind.

- Okay.

Okay. So...

We can get a lot more in that case.

- Another 10 per hour for each.

- Good.

- Good.

- Yeah, good. Good.

Plus another 20 an hour for her to pose.

- What?

- What did he say?

- For her to pose for me.

- What did he say then?

- Twenty more for posing.

- Okay, yes. That's great.

- Yes, yes.

- No.

- No, what?

- No, it's... I said no.

It's very reasonable.

I know, I know, but we said 10.

- But why did you say that?

- Shut up. Sh*t.

Ten. That's on top

of the other 10 for posing?

Yeah, and then we're good.

- I'm happy to give you the 20.

- No, 10 is fine.

All right.

This pile is all retroactive.

What?

It's payment for the last

six months that I've spent with her.

I don't speak English.

What does that mean?

It's payment for the last six months.

And this pile is in advance

for the next six months.

That's an advance

on the next six months.

Ah.

- Cheers. Cheers!

- That's great.

- It was a pleasure.

- Pleasure shared.

- There you go.

- Thanks.

- Bye!

- Out of the way.

It looks like you made them happy.

Please.

I would have paid ten times that amount.

What do you mean?

She's given me so much.

Oh, f***!

- What are you doing?

- Negative work. I have to do this.

Sometimes, you know, to do something,

you can only do it by undoing it.

- Yes, but how many times?

- Mm?

- How many times?

- Good question.

It's not always as easy as you think.

What isn't?

The undoing of something.

I thought the portrait looked really good.

- When?

- Earlier, when we started.

It can be very tempting

to be satisfied with what's easy.

That happens a lot

when people tell you something's good.

Tsk. There. That's good. Hm.

- Worse, isn't it?

- Well...

What's the matter?

Nothing. It's just sometimes it feels

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