Julia

[Bird Squawking]

[Woman Narrating]

Old paint on canvas, as it ages...

sometimes becomes transparent.

When that happens,

it is possible in some pictures...

to see the original lines.

A tree will show through a woman's dress.

A child makes way for a dog.

A boat is no longer on an open sea.

That is called pentimento...

because the painter repented...

changed his mind.

[Squawking Continues]

[Train Whistle Blaring]

I'm old now, and I wanna remember...

what was there for me once...

and what is there for me now.

[Typing]

It's not working again, Dash.

It's falling apart again.

Put on your sweater.

Bring some whiskey.

I'll build a fire, and we'll start dinner.

Don't forget the smokes.

I'm not here to take orders. I want advice.

You're a big-shot writer.

[Shouting] You're not a general,

Hammett, and I ain't the troops.!

If you really can't write,

maybe you should go find a job.

Be a waitress.

[Chuckles]

What about a fireman, eh?

You could be chief.

It's not a bad idea, you know?

Little town somewhere...

find yourself a little fire station, a hat.

- I'll be the mayor.

- Why should you be the mayor?

Well, someone has to appoint you if...

I'm in trouble with my goddamn play,

and you don't care!

Just because you stopped writing doesn't...

[Liquid Pouring]

Tell you what, Lilly.

I'll send you on a trip to Paris.

I don't wanna go to Paris.

Why not? I hear it's a swell town.

Finish the play there.

Have a little fun. Visit your friend Julia.

You know damn wellJulia's not in Paris.

Well, wherever she is.

Go to Spain. There may be a civil war

in Spain. You'd help somebody win it.

- [Laughs] You're scrappy.

- I'm not scrappy. Don't call me scrappy.

You make me sound like

a neighborhood bulldog.

You are the neighborhood bulldog, Lilly!

'Cept you got some cockeyed dream

about bein' a cocker spaniel.

- I can't work here.

- Well, then don't work here.

Don't work anyplace.

It's not as if you've written

anything before, you know.

Nobody'll miss you.

It's a perfect time to change jobs.

You're the one who talked me

into being a writer, Dashiell.

You're the one who said,

"Stick with it, kid. You got talent, kid."

You soft-soaped me with all that crap!

- And now look at me.

- If you're gonna cry about it,

go stand on a rock.

Don't do it around me.

If you can't write here, go someplace else.

Give it up. Open a drugstore.

Be a coal miner.

Only just don't cry about it.

[Lilly's Voice] I think I have

always known about my memory.

I know when the truth

is distorted by some drama or fantasy.

But I trust absolutely

what I remember about...

Julia.

[Clock Ticking]

[Clock Tolling]

Happy New Year, Grandmother.

Happy New Year, Julia.

- Happy New Year, Grandfather.

- Hmm?

Why did we have sherbert

in the middle of the meal?

It clears the palate

between the fish and the meat.

- Who's that?

- It's my mother.

- [Lilly] My God.

- [Julia] Shejust got married again.

- Where does your mother live?

- In Scotland.

- My mother owns a very fancy castle.

- Have you been there?

- Once.

- What's it like?

Full of fancy people with fancy titles.

- Who were they?

- I don't remember. They didn't interest me.

They're all very rich and famous.

They just said hello to me,

and I don't remember.

[Orchestra. ; "My Blue Heaven"]

[Continues]

- Happy New Year, Julia.

- Happy New Year.

[Ends]

I am... Paris.

I am Paris, and I am a string of beads.

I am Paris,

and I am a string of beads on a hot dancer.

[Laughs]

[Chuckles]

I am Paris,

and I am a string of beads on a hot dancer...

and a romantic Frenchman

comes into my room.

And he carries me

off into the dark Parisian night.

- [Laughs]

- And takes me to his villa.

[Speaking French]

- What happened?

- [Laughing]

- Oh, I'm in ecstasy!

- What happened?

You'll have to learn French.

[Both Laughing]

- [Adult Lilly] I am Paris.

- [Laughter]

[Julia]

I am Paris, and I am a string ofbeads.

No, wait a minute. No.

I am Paris,

and I am a string of beads on a hot dancer.

I am Paris. I am a string

of beads on a hot dancer...

and outside it is Renoir and Degas.

I am Paris, and I am a string

of beads on a hot dancer...

- and outside it is...

- Renoir.

Renoir and Degas...

and inside it is hard and hot.

- [Giggling]

- I don't care.

- [Clock Tolling]

- I don't care.

- Happy New Year, Julia.

- Happy New Year, Lilly.

[Tolling Continues]

[Lilly's Voice] I cannot say now

that I had ever used the words...

gentle or strong...

or delicate.

But I did think that night...

that it was the most beautiful face...

I had ever seen.

Maybe I could do better work someplace else.

- Dash?

- [Mutters]

If I were to go to Paris and work...

- Are you awake?

- Uh.

Dash, do I keep you from writing?

No. Sleeping, Lilly.

You keep me from sleeping.

[Young Lilly]

But what about Paris? What about Rome?

- [Young Julia] You aren't listening.!

- I am listening.!

[Horn Blaring]

[Horns Blaring]

[Brakes Squealing]

[Greetings, Indistinct]

Please tell me what's the matter.

I don't want to be here, not with them.

- I hate them.

- Why?

[Horse Whinnies]

They took me to see Cairo.

They told me how beautiful

Cairo would be, but it wasn't.

I said to my grandfather,

"Look at those people. They're hungry.

They're sick.

Why don't we do something?"

And he said, "Don't look at them."

I said, "But they're sick."

He said, "I didn't make them sick."

What about Paris?

What about Rome?

- You aren't listening!

- I am listening!

Where my mother lives,

the servants live under the ground...

no windows, one bathroom.

It's wrong. It's wrong, Lilly.

Do you understand?

[Julia]

I heard from Oxford, from medical school.

- I was accepted.!

- [Lilly] When will you go?

At the end of the summer.!

[Dixieland]

- All ashore that's going ashore.

- You'd better go.

[People Shouting Farewells]

When are we gonna see each other again?

It'll be so long.

Think of it this way... when we do

we'll have everything to talk about.

- All ashore that's going ashore.!

- Please write me.

You know I will.

Work hard. Take chances.

- Be very bold. Do you hear me?

- [Bell Clanging]

- All ashore that's going ashore.!

- Good-bye.

Good-bye.

[Lilly's Voice] I wasn't to see her

again for a very long time...

until I went to visit her at Oxford.

There are women who reach

a perfect time oflife...

when the face will never again be as good...

the body never as graceful or powerful.

It had happened that year toJulia.

- Do you have lots of friends?

- Not many.

- Do you get to the theater?

- No, there isn't time.

But we always went to the theater.

When you write your play, then I'll go again.

- How is your writing?

- Oh, I'm still at the publishing house.

I wish I could write full-time.

- Do you have a beau?

- No. Do you?

Well, I think maybe I found somebody.

- And you?

- I did, but it didn't work out.

- What are you reading now?

- Darwin, Engels...

Hegel, Einstein.

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