Head in the Clouds Page #2

for almost a year.

But Gilda always

had an uncanny sense of timing.

She was back in Paris...

telling me a whole new chapter of her life

was beginning...

and demanding I visit her.

Once more, nothing else in the world

existed for me.

Miss Bess?

Bonjour.

I'm looking for Miss Bess.

Guy! You came! And so soon!

Well, you finally sent me an address.

Look at you. Suddenly you're a man.

I even shave now.

How long can you stay?

Only till tomorrow. I have to work.

That's ridiculous.

You have to stay for at least a month.

We'd better get ready for tonight.

You're a great bunch of robots!

Don't be late!

You'll be able to see my show.

What sort of show?

You'll see tonight.

I saw you in a film as a slave

in ancient Rome.

Wasn't it ludicrous?

How did you get the part?

I met an American cameraman

and went back to Hollywood with him.

At first I wanted to be an actress...

but then I got more interested in cameras.

I'd pick his brains in bed every night.

Are you married yet?

Not quite.

Good.

I'm sure you have a menagerie of admirers.

So what do you do after work?

I raise money for Republican Spain.

I forgot you had a conscience.

Max! This is Guy.

He just arrived from London.

Welcome to Paris.

Are you here for the opening?

He doesn't know anything about it

so he'll be completely objective.

Right.

Where are you staying?

There's a hotel my friends like

just around the corner.

He's staying here.

He and Mia can sing each other to sleep.

Good.

This is going to be incredibly glamorous

isn't it?

And I'm going to be incredibly dowdy.

You're British. People expect it.

Do you mind?

So Max is a lover?

He owns the gallery.

Actually, he's good company...

but he's become

extremely proprietorial lately.

He's on very thin ice.

Then I hope it melts.

Don't sulk.

I didn't know you were coming so soon.

And anyway...

I'm sure you're not sleeping alone

in London every night.

Moments of yearning. Lust, vanity, and joy.

Loves won and lost.

It's an honour to be the first to host

the work...

of this gifted new photographer.

Finally, as a bonus

may I present a living sculpture...

created especially for tonight?

Ladies and gentlemen...

"The Tyranny of Youth!"

The pictures were good of their kind.

But the sculptures were something else.

The trouble is we're never going

to see them again.

You should film them, Gilda.

Record them for posterity.

They need to be live

so people can lean over...

and smell the skin of the models.

Does that worry you, Mia?

Having people sniffing around you

like dogs?

I'm a sculpture, so I ignore them.

What about you, Guy?

Have you seen anything like that

in England?

No, I haven't.

Guy thinks art should be political.

In London, he spends most of his time

campaigning for Republican Spain.

German artists spent the last 15 years

lampooning the Nazis...

and had no effect at all.

At least they tried.

Rather pointless if all they achieve

is a ticket to one of those camps.

And the satisfaction of knowing

they had the courage of their convictions.

Here's to judicious cowardice.

No. Here's to Mia

whose beauty inspired us all.

You should model for Coco Chanel.

I could introduce you.

Mia's training to be a nurse.

She only models in her spare time

and I have an exclusive contract.

But I do feel I've seen you before.

I never forget a face.

Perhaps you saw me at Le Grand Jeu.

So how do you carry on

your crusade for Spain?

Do you sit on a committee

and hand out pamphlets in the street?

And if you really feel so strongly...

why don't you enlist

in the International Brigades?

I plan to at the end of school term.

Are you serious?

Yeah, I am.

Well, the line must be drawn.

Fascism must be stopped

before it engulfs us all.

Good night.

You've become so serious.

The world has become serious.

We'll all die of gravity.

I'm sorry I can't be with you tonight.

Do you even like him?

Occasionally.

But I admit

he's trying a little too hard at the moment.

Mia, get out of the bath!

You'll turn into a prune!

I take it Le Grand Jeu is a cabaret?

Burlesque. Striptease.

She came here with nothing.

She's my protg.

I want the three of us to be friends.

Gilda, are you coming?

I'll see you in the morning.

This one's comfortable.

I used to sleep here when I first came.

How long have you been here?

Half a year.

Whereabouts in Spain are you from?

Asturias. In the north.

Don't be jealous. He's not special to her.

None of them are.

He wants you to hear.

He's afraid of her feelings for you.

Yeah, well, I'm afraid of mine for her.

Who is it?

It's me.

How dare you be so pathetically

melodramatic walking out on me like that?

What's there to drink? I'm bone dry.

Hello.

This is Linda.

Hello, Gilda.

I'm sorry I woke you.

I got seasick on the boat...

and then I tried to eat something

to settle my stomach...

but the food in this country is awful.

Is this a bad time?

What do you think?

Does Max know you're here?

Max was being very boring about you

so I expelled him.

I'm not going to let you go

and get yourself killed.

You'd probably come back

with your brain shot out.

Conversations would be

incredibly one- sided.

Now, get me a blanket

and you can go back to bed.

What are you doing?

I'm going.

She's sleeping in there.

I'm just getting her some bedclothes.

Guy, I was with you at the cinema.

After you saw her

you hardly spoke the rest of the day.

And when you got her letter

you couldn't get on a train fast enough.

I'm off.

There's no need.

I've got an early start in the morning.

And besides, I think I'm a bit in the way.

You didn't ask her to leave, did you?

No.

Seeing as she has

I suppose I don't have to sleep rough.

You've no idea

how I adored you at Cambridge.

And when I arrived here

nothing had changed.

It was miraculous.

So how did you and Mia meet?

I saw her on the street.

Followed her to a caf.

You choose people, don't you?

"Come into my life."

Sometimes you see complete strangers

but there's something special about them...

and you think

"I should really try and talk to them...

"because I'll never see them again"

but you don't...

because it's not done.

But it's all fated, anyway.

It had to be your room

I came into that night in Cambridge.

What do you mean?

The whole room was familiar.

I'd seen it before in dreams.

It probably reminded you of some place

you've been before.

We just think we've dreamt things.

You're so complacent!

The mind isn't a physical thing

like the rest of the body.

Maybe it can jump forward in dreams.

Maybe it doesn't have to obey physical laws.

But if my room was already there...

then that would mean

everything was fixed in advance.

You think I was being spontaneous...

but I was always going to do that.

Just as I was always

going to win this argument.

That's what I learned at school.

I've got to work out what I'm going to do.

Resign from your teaching for a start.

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