The American Page #10

Again... a real sadness.

JACK glances at her.

MATHILDE:

This is the sort of place I wish

I’d discovered by myself. Then

maybe one day I could have retired

here. But you already know it.

JACK is touched.

JACK:

I’m much older than you. By the

time you’ve retired I’ll be dead.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 51. page 51.

76 INT./EXT. RURAL TRAIN STATION- DAY 76

The FIAT pulls up. Mathilde wakes as the car brakes

77 INT. FIAT- DAY 77

The YOUNG WOMAN’s manner is once more tense and formal.

MATHILDE:

We meet as before? Same time next

week?

Mathilde briefly and accidentally drops her Belgian accent to

reveal her American accent. Jack realizes she speaks like an

American and his head spins.

JACK:

Probably.

Mathilde opens the door and gets out. Jack does the same and

walks to the car boot. He is there partly to make sure that

she doesn’t take the gun as well as her own bag.

The distant sound of a DIESEL ENGINE. The train is

approaching.

MATHILDE:

Alright, see you Saturday.

He nods and opens the car boot. She retrieves her bag.

MATHILDE:

Thank you for a lovely day. Mr.

Butterfly.

She leans forward...

...and kisses him lightly on the cheek, her lips light and

quick on his stubble.

MATHILDE:

You must take your mistress to the

meadow for a picnic.

She walks towards the platform and vanishes around the corner

of the station building.

JACK watches her while she disappears and gets into his car.

And drives off.

Confused.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 52. page 52.

78 INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, LOCAL BAR- NIGHT 78

Two OLD MEN drinking beer at the bar. Two more at a table,

playing Scopa with old fashioned Trentine playing cards.

Sitting at the back of the room, JACK stares at a shot of

Grappa.

Above him, mounted on the wall, is a TELEVISION. On the TV is

a Western:
Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda in ONCE UPON A

TIME IN THE WEST.

JACK downs his shot, gets up and walks over to the bar. Pays.

The BARMAN nods at the screen.

BARMAN:

Sergio Leone. Italiano.

JACK turns and looks.

HENRY FONDA in close-up, is about to shoot a red headed BOY

of seven in the head.

JACK stares. Just at the moment that the gun goes off...

...JACK turns away.

79 INT. BROTHEL, VIA LAMPEDUSA- NIGHT 79

CLARA and JACK are naked.

JACK tries to kiss her on the lips but CLARA turns away: just

enough to let him know this is against the rules.

JACK kisses her neck. Her breasts. Her stomach.

As he moves his head between her legs, her fingers (already

ensnared in his hair) tighten their grip, stopping him from

going further.

JACK looks up at CLARA, across her belly, and she looks back

at him, her expression fixed yet curious.

Against her rules but not, we sense, against her wishes, JACK

kisses CLARA softly, tenderly, deeply until she is moving

against his tongue, using her sex like a mouth to kiss him in

return.

He then turns her over by moving her legs around and

positions himself behind her.

CLARA:

Careful, careful!! (slight

resistance)

JACK starts slowly and she starts enjoying it.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 52A. page 52A.

CLARA comes, not wanting to.

Preoccupied, JACK does not. Instead he kisses her.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 53. page 53.

80 INT. BROTHEL, VIA LAMPEDUSA- NIGHT 80

JACK is in bed with CLARA, covering himself with a sheet.

CLARA:

Morboso?

She looks at him.

CLARA:

(with certainty)

Morboso.

JACK:

Morboso?

CLARA:

Morboso is like... when you can’t

stop thinking about something.

He stares back at her: wordless.

CLARA:

Or someone.

A long pause:
her eyes searching his. JACK gets out of bed

and stands by the window, looking through the blind, down

into the street.

JACK:

You needn’t act.

CLARA:

Act?

CLARA watches him, confused but fascinated. JACK is getting

dressed.

JACK:

You might have to act with your

other clients but you don’t have to

pretend anything at all with me.

She lights herself a cigarette.

JACK:

I want you to be yourself with me.

I came here to get pleasure, not to

give it.

He hands her CASH.

She counts it.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 53A. page 53A.

CLARA:

Maybe I pretend very well. I got

more tip than the other girls

usually get.

"The American" June 21st, 2010

page 54.

He walks to the door.

Pauses.

JACK:

I don’t sleep with the other girls.

And leaves.

81

INT. JACK'S ROOM- NIGHT 81

JACK is asleep.

He is not alone.

On the floor next to the bed lies:

INGRID.

Pale as death.

INGRID slowly sits up.

* * *

JACK wakes up suddenly, gasping.

The floor is empty, JACK’s sheets twisted and damp.

82

EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE- DAWN 82

SUNRISE...

...over one of the most desolate and beautiful landscapes in

all Italy.

83

INT. JACK'S ROOM- DAWN 83

In the gun-metal light of dawn, tricky work:

-cartridges taken apart

-tiny holes drilled in the nose to a depth of precisely 3mm

-the hole half-filled with mercury

-and plugged with a drop of liquid lead.

JACK is converting jacketed ammunition into EXPLOSIVE

BULLETS.

"The American" June 21st, 2010 page 55. page 55.

84 INT. CHURCH- DAY 84

Outside, the sun is merciless. Inside, JACK has taken refuge

in the cool of the church. He is alone. He is not praying.

Just staring impassively at the gaudy crucifixion: at the

thorns and the nails and the running blood.

Footsteps. JACK checks behind him.

It’s FATHER BENEDETTO: dressed for Mass.

FATHER BENEDETTO

I’ve been looking for you.

He mops the sweat from his brow with the hem of his Soutane,

takes JACK by the arm and leads him to one side, away from

the light of the candles.

FATHER BENEDETTO

A stranger was here.

A beat.

FATHER BENEDETTO

He came to the church this

afternoon.

Another beat.

FATHER BENEDETTO leans close and whispers:

FATHER BENEDETTO

If you live in Italy, and you are a

man of the cloth, you meet many

people. Besides, I lived once in

Napoli. If you live in Napoli you

know the difference between a fat

wallet and a... custodia per armi

di spalla. How you say in English?

JACK:

Shoulder holster.

FATHER BENEDETTO

Si.

JACK glances up and down the aisle.

OLD LADIES are dribbling into church in twos and threes.

The BELL for mass starts ringing.

JACK:

You’re a true friend, father.

FATHER BENEDETTO

(shrugs)

I’m a priest.

"The American" June 21st, 2010

page 56.

85

OMITTED 85

86

EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, STREETS - NIGHT 86

JACK walks down the streets towards the town square.

87

EXT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, TOWN SQUARE- NIGHT 87

A Fiat Punto is parked just off the square. JACK immediately

notices the car and its occupant. He hesitates and then

decides to walk on towards the bar, knowing the car’s

occupant will spot him.

88

INT. CASTEL DEL MONTE, LOCAL BAR- NIGHT 88

JACK is drinking a coffee.

He has a pretty good view of the car and the young man

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