Julieta Page #12

You look beautiful, Sara.

San.a looks at them, a little uncomfortable. She feels

like an intruder.

75. HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY. KITCHEN. INT.

1988. SPRING.

San.a, her back turned, is heating some glass jars with

preserves in the bain marie. Julieta, in profile, is

preparing the little girl’s supper. Samuel, with his

back to the women and facing the camera, is sitting at

a round table peeling some tomatoes.

SAN.A

I’ve got all the jars ready.

SAMUEL:

Great.

JULIETA:

Dad, can I speak to you?

SAMUEL:

(To San.a) San.a, see to Sara and

Ant.a.

San.a cleans her hands before she leaves.

JULIETA:

Don’t waken Ant.a.

San.a nods and goes out. Julieta sits down across from

her father and helps him peel tomatoes.

JULIETA:

What do you do about mom when you

go to the market?

SAMUEL:

One of us always stays with her.

JULIETA:

When you came to collect me, you’d

left her on her own, locked in her

room.

It’s a critical, painful comment, said in a half

whisper.

SAMUEL:

I don’t like locking her in,

Julieta. I do it to protect her.

JULIETA:

(Lamenting) This is no life for

mom.

SAMUEL:

(On the defensive) Julieta, we are

as well as we can be. Do you know

what it would cost to put your

mother in a home?

JULIETA:

I thought you’d hired a woman to

look after her.

SAMUEL:

San.a looks after her.

JULIETA:

San.a looks after the land and

you.

SAMUEL:

(Warning her) Don’t go there,

Julieta.

JULIETA:

Mom needs something more than just

someone to wash her and make her

bed.

SAMUEL:

You have your life, unfortunately

very far from here. I’ve tried to

bother you as little as possible,

but we’ve had a lot of problems,

and believe me if I tell you that

now we’re better than ever.

Julieta looks at him with mixed feelings.

SAMUEL:

Be more understanding and more

generous with me.

76. RETURN TO REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. EXT. DAY.

1988. SPRING.

THREE WEEKS LATER

A taxi stops outside Xoan’s house in Redes. Julieta and

Ant.a get out. The driver blows his horn, opens the

trunk and leaves the brown suitcase and the backpack

next to Julieta. While Marian and Xoan are coming out

he takes out the pushchair.

MARIAN:

The Andalusians are here!

She kisses Julieta and showers Ant.a with hugs and

cuddles. She takes some of the luggage. Xoan joins the

group. He kisses both of them, the child and her

mother, as best he can. He’s happy, smiling from ear to

ear.

XOAN:

I thought you weren’t coming back!

(Affectionate) How are you?

JULIETA:

We’re exhausted! The journey was

awful!

The two react to what the little girl does.

XOAN:

How was your mother?

JULIETA:

(Sad) Terrible. I’ll tell you

later.

They go into the house. The taxi disappears.

Cut.

77. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. XOAN-JULIETA’S ROOM. NIGHT. CONT.

1988. SPRING.

The room has changed with regard to how it was three

years ago. Although they both share it, it is more

feminine than masculine. They’ve changed some of the

furniture and the curtains. Ant.a’s cot is next to the

bed.

Julieta gives a final touch to Ant.a’s bed, the child

is fast asleep. Xoan undresses, sitting on the bed.

They speak in whispers so as not to wake Ant.a.

JULIETA:

My father is having an affair with

the girl who looks after my

mother.

XOAN:

And does your mother realize?

JULIETA:

My mother is wasting away, the

poor thing, locked in her room.

Julieta leaves the child and turns to Xoan. He has just

taken off his shirt, revealing his firm naked torso.

Julieta sees that he has a new tattoo. She sits next to

him. Xoan has had a heart tattooed on his right

shoulder. Inside it there is a delightful little boat

and, printed on the sails, the initials A and J.

Julieta reads the tattoo, inquisitive.

JULIETA:

AJ? Does it mean Ant.a and

Julieta?

Julieta brings her lips close to the tattoo.

XOAN:

Yes. Be careful, it’s still

tender.

Julieta presses her lips on the tattooed heart. And

then she kisses him.

78. MADRID. 19, FERNANDO VI, 2ND FLOOR. HOUSE 3.

2016. SPRING.

Julieta, at 56, is staring at the notebook for Ant.a.

79. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. XOAN-JULIETA’S ROOM. INT. NIGHT.

CONT.

1988.SPRING.

Little Ant.a is sleeping in her cot. A close-up of the

child dissolves to the peaceful waves on the sea.

80. SEA. EXT. DAY.

1994. SUMMER.

The sea is reflecting the white, blue and red of Xoan’s

gamela. Inside the little boat Ant.a (8 years old) is

helping her father pull the creels out of the water.

She’s wearing a yellow oilskin and is having a

wonderful time fishing.

Over these images we hear Julieta’s voiceover:

JULIETA (OFF)

I wonder if you’re living inland

or on the coast, and if you still

like fishing. When you were eight,

you were already going out with

your father in the boat. You

wanted to be a fisherman, like

him.

81. REDES. XOAN’S HOUSE. ANT.A’S ROOM. INT. DAY.

1998. SUMMER.

Time has passed for all the characters. Julieta, at 38,

is in all her splendor. Xoan, close to 50, is starting

to show signs of weariness and his hair is greying.

Ant.a has grown, she is 12 now.

Julieta is combing Ant.a’s hair in the girl’s room. On

the wall there is a corkboard full of photos with her

father and with her girlfriends and also some childish

drawings. The window is casting a warm, intimate light

on the scene. Julieta loves combing her daughter’s

hair, but Ant.a is in a bad mood and in a sign of

protest has let all her hair fall over her face. She

looks like “Cousin Itt” from the Addams Family. She

protests when her mother insists on combing her hair

properly.

JULIETA:

How can I let you go to camp

looking like “Cousin Itt” from the

Addams!

ANT.A

(Sulking, willful) I want to go

like this.

Julieta pulls her hair back from her face as if it were

a curtain from behind which the different features of

her face start to appear. She names them lovingly.

JULIETA:

People have to see that you have a

forehead, that you have eyes, a

nose, a mouth, ears…

Ant.a interrupts her ill-humoredly.

ANT.A

Mom, don’t talk rubbish!

JULIETA:

(Scolding her) Ant.a, you’re going

on vacation, you’re going to enjoy

yourself!

ANT.A

I don’t want to go. I want to stay

here!

JULIETA:

(Fed up) Well, the young lady

can’t always do what she wants to

do.

Xoan comes into the bedroom. He goes up to Julieta and

Ant.a. The girl hugs him tightly. Julieta carries on

combing her hair as if nothing had happened.

XOAN:

(Tenderly) What’s wrong with my

little girl?

ANT.A

I don’t want to go, dad. Now that

I’m on vacation I could go fishing

with you every day. Didn’t you say

that you needed help, that you

were getting old?

Xoan adores his daughter. He caresses her.

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