Gattaca Page #28

JEROME:

(refusing Anton's hand, glancing

to the telescope above them)

There are a few million miles to go yet.

ANTON:

(adamant)

It's over.

JEROME:

(shaking his head)

Is that the only way you can succeed, Anton,

to see me fail?

ANTON:

It's for the best.

JEROME:

(increasingly angered)

God, even you want to tell me what I can't do.

In case you hadn't noticed, Anton, I don't

need rescuing. But you did, once.

Anton is clearly stung by the memory.

JEROME:

(goading)

Well? You have all the answers. How is that

possible?

ANTON:

(resolute)

You didn't beat me that day. I beat myself.

JEROME:

Who are you trying to convince?

ANTON:

(angry)

I will prove it to you. Come swim with

me now, Vincent. Now--tonight.

Jerome regards Anton with a knowing smile. Somewhere in Gattaca

a phone rings.

INT/EXT. IRENE'S CAR OUTSIDE CONDOMINIUM COMPLEX. NIGHT.

IRENE, sitting in her car outside Jerome's condominium, hangs up

her portable phone. In her agitation, her finger involuntarily

goes to her pulse. She catches herself and removes the finger

from her wrist as if it has burned her. She exits the car.

INT. JEROME'S CONDOMINIUM/EUGENE'S CONDOMINIUM. NIGHT.

IRENE quietly knocks on Jerome's door but there is no response.

Trying the handle, the door opens. Her curiosity takes her

inside. All is quiet. IRENE calls out.

IRENE:

Hello.

No reply. Irene hesitantly ventures further, drawn to the

spiral staircase. She tentatively makes her way down the stairs

and into Eugene's dimly lit condominium. With wonder and

reverence, she examines the instruments and samples laid out on

Eugene's work benches. She opens the refrigerator in the

bathroom and inspects the samples and sachets. Finally she

regards the empty incinerator.

EUGENE (OC)

Quite something, isn't it?

Irene turns.

Eugene has entered through the mirrored door, not at all

displeased by her unexpected visit.

EUGENE:

(referring to the incinerator)

That's where we get rid of the traces of him

although we never truly succeeded.

IRENE:

I've been looking for him. Do you know where

he is?

EUGENE:

(unconcerned)

He's probably leaving some more of me

around the place before he goes.

Eugene idly inspects one of the blood sachets.

EUGENE:

Don't be deceived, Irene. These are

just the clothes. He has to wear them.

Something I could never do.

IRENE:

What's wrong with him?

EUGENE:

(sympathetic smile)

You have more in common than you know.

Irene's hand involuntarily goes to her heart.

EUGENE:

But they say hisis already ten thousand beats

overdue. I have my doubts.

(wry smile)

For all my gifts, they could never engineer

me a heart like Vincent's.

Irene turns back to the incinerator, lost in though.

EXT. BEACH. NIGHT.

JEROME and ANTON walk down a dune together towards the beach not

far from Gattaca - an ocean beach pounded by an angry, black

sea. Jerome picks up a sharp piece of shell and slices the end

of his thumb. A drop of blood oozes out. He offers the shell

to Anton but Anton does not take it.

Both men begin to disrobe. The brothers stand beside each other

on the sand once again - Anton still the more athletically-built

of the two.

Together, they enter the raging surf. Diving through the

breaking waves, they begin to swim.

In the moonlit night, we watch their two bodies swimming side by

side. They swim a long distance, Anton waiting for his brother

to tire. But the pace does not slacken. Anton pulls up in the

water. Sensing his brother is no longer beside him, Jerome also

pulls up. They tread water several yards apart.

ANTON:

(attempting to conceal his distress)

How are you doing this, Vincent? How

have you done any of this?

JEROME:

Now is your chance to find out.

Jerome swims away a second time. Anton is forced to follow

once again. Angry now, gritting his teeth, Anton calls

upon the same determination we have witnessed during his

constant swimming in the pool. He puts on a spurt, slowly

reeling in Jerome.

Anton gradually draws alongside Jerome, certain that this effort

will demoralize his older brother. But Jerome has been foxing -

waiting for him to catch up. Jerome smiles at Anton. With

almost a trace of sympathy, he forges ahead again. Anton is

forced to go with him. They swim again for a long distance.

It is Anton who gradually becomes demoralized - his strokes

weaken, his will draining away. Anton pulls up, exhausted and

fearful. Jerome also pulls up. However his face displays none

of Anton's anxiety.

They tread water several yards apart. The ocean is choppier

now. The view of the lights on the shore is obscured by the

peaks of the waves.

ANTON:

(panic starting to show)

Vincent, where's the shore? We're too far out.

We have to go back!

JEROME:

(calling back)

Too late for that. We're closer to the other side.

Anton looks towards the empty horizon.

ANTON:

What other side? How far do you want to go?!

Do you want to drown us both?

(becoming hysterical)

How are we going to get back?!

Jerome merely smiles back at his younger brother, a disturbingly

serene smile.

JEROME:

(eerily calm)

You wanted to know how I did it. That's

how I did it, Anton. I never saved anything

for the swim back.

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