Julieta Page #6

compartment, but the drunk is protesting, he wants a

commotion.

The train conductor goes in the direction from which

Julieta was coming, towards the dining car.

36. TRAIN, CORRIDOR. JULIETA AND THE TWO WOMEN. INT.

NIGHT.

1985. WINTER. CONT.

Julieta looks into her compartment from the corridor,

where she is standing beside the two women. She sees

that her case has only slid along the net where she had

left it. However the sad man’s bag has fallen to the

floor. The overcoat is still where he left it. Julieta

notices that the man isn’t there.

JULIETA:

Have you seen the man who was

sitting here?

WOMAN 1

The one with glasses and the black

polo neck sweater?

37. TRAIN. JULIETA’S COMPARTMENT/CORRIDOR. INT. NIGHT.

1985. WINTER. CONT.

Julieta nods and goes into her compartment with her

book in her hand.

WOMAN 1

I saw him in the corridor. He must

be around somewhere.

She leaves the book on her seat and picks up the

leather bag from the floor. She is surprised that

despite its considerable size the bag doesn’t weigh

anything. She puts it on the seat across from her,

intrigued.

WOMAN 2

When we stopped he got down onto

the platform. I saw him walking

through the snow. He didn’t have a

coat, that’s why I noticed him. I

think he was drunk.

WOMAN 1

He’s probably still wandering

around the station, that’s why

we’ve stopped.

Julieta looks out the window and sees the train

conductor running through the snow towards the engine

cab. She has the feeling that something serious has

happened.

Julieta looks inquisitively at the leather bag in front

of her, as if it were a living being. She hears the two

women going back to their compartment. Finally no one

is looking at her. She gets up and gives way to the

temptation of opening the bag. She opens the zip and

separates the two sides. To her surprise she discovers

that there is nothing inside. The bag is totally empty.

She goes out to the corridor, intrigued, and walks in

the opposite direction to the dining car.

We see this from outside, through the corridor windows.

She goes to one of the doors leading to the platform.

38. TRAIN STATION. EXT. NIGHT. CONT.

1985. WINTER.

Julieta appears at the door leading to the platform.

From there she can see a small group of men coming back

from the cab of the train, crossing the dark, snowy

ground. At first she can only make out the silhouette

of the group as it moves. Gradually she can make out

the men and finally she can see that they’re carrying a

stretcher. Xoan and the train conductor are among them.

They are all serious and somber. It looks like a

funeral cortege.

From where she is (at the train door), Julieta can’t

make out what is on the stretcher. Whatever it is, it’s

covered by blankets. Pale from apprehension, she jumps

down onto the platform, her feet sink into the snow.

She runs, coatless, towards the group.

As soon as he sees her, Xoan goes over to her to

prevent her getting closer to the group.

39. TRAIN STATION. EXT. NIGHT. CONT.

1985. WINTER.

XOAN:

What are you doing here! Get back

on the train! You’ll catch

pneumonia!

JULIETA:

(Uneasy) What are you carrying on

the stretcher?

XOAN:

What?

JULIETA:

Is it the stag?

XOAN:

No! Why do you say that?

JULIETA:

(Horrified) Then it’s a man…?!

XOAN:

(Pleading) Come on, get on the

train!

Julieta can see in Xoan’s eyes that she’s right. The

cortege is transporting a dead man. Juliet’s eyes shine

damply in the dark.

JULIETA:

(Horrified) Oh! It’s him! That’s

why we’ve stopped… (She looks at

him intensely in search of

confirmation) A man with a black

sweater and glasses…

Xoan doesn’t contradict her, but neither does he

confirm it. Julieta bursts into tears. He pulls her

along.

XOAN:

(Fatherly) Get on the train,

please!

Xoan puts his arms round her, to protect her from the

cold, and puts her on the train. Julieta takes a last

look at the funeral cortege which is now arriving at

the station building.

Cut.

40. TRAIN. JULIETA’S COMPARTMENT. INT. OF MOVING TRAIN.

NIGHT.

1985. WINTER.

During the ellipsis between the two sequences, Julieta

has been crying.

Sitting where she had been seated earlier, she is

blowing her nose and drying her eyes.

Xoan is sitting across from her, in the dead man’s

seat.

JULIETA:

He was sitting there, where you

are now.

Xoan listens to her in silence, an understanding,

reassuring silence, like someone listening to a child

who is making a drama out of an unimportant problem.

JULIETA:

He wanted to talk, but… I was

bothered by the way he was looking

at me and I ran out of here… How

was I to know he was feeling so

awful!

XOAN:

(Serious) Any girl would have done

the same…

JULIETA:

(Reproaching herself) I should

have realized!

XOAN:

(Tenderly) Don’t torture yourself.

He would still have killed

himself.

JULIETA:

Why was he carrying an empty

suitcase?

XOAN:

I don’t know. (Explaining) He

didn’t want to attract attention.

He had it all planned before he

got on the train. No one kills

himself because a pretty girl

doesn’t want to talk to him.

Julieta is still upset, but Xoan’s presence is more

powerful than the idea of death. They exchange knowing

looks, not without desire.

Cut.

41. TRAIN. JULIETA’S COMPARTMENT. INT. OF MOVING TRAIN.

NIGHT.

1985. WINTER.

The scant light in the compartment is coming through

the window. Xoan and Julieta are lying in their

parallel seat-beds and facing head to toe. They are

alone. Julieta has her back to Xoan, she is awake and

tense. Xoan is lying facing her. His eyes run along her

legs, her ass and her waist. They are barely inches

from each other.

To get into that position: the bottom of the seat

slides forward and the back reclines, legs rest on the

opposite seat. The result is a kind of articulated bed

in three parts. In this way, the six seats end up

becoming three beds.

Xoan is lying on the first bed (next to the window) and

Julieta on the second (that is, the one in the middle).

There are some eight inches between both beds. The

bodies are clothed and they don’t even graze each other

but they feel their closeness multiplied. Xoan changes

his position, he lies totally parallel to Julieta. That

is, with his head lined up with hers. He lays his head

on the armrest. Julieta is breathing unsteadily. Xoan

strokes her waist. Julieta turns, she no longer has her

back to him.

JULIETA:

I can’t sleep.

XOAN:

Neither can I.

And they kiss with intense pleasure.

Cut.

42. MOVING TRAIN. JULIETA’S COMPARTMENT. INT. NIGHT.

1985. WINTER.

A shot of the window, we only see the edges. The night

landscape is racing past, in the opposite direction,

through areas that are dark greys and greens, not snow

covered. The only light coming into the compartment is

from the window. The glass reflects the couple, inside

the compartment making love voraciously. It seems that

the fleeting countryside is reflected on the lovers’

skin. The vegetation closes to the train increases the

feeling of flight.

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