The Barefoot Contessa Page #11

it will be more at

home in our garden

As you can see, she has insisted

upon posing with bare feet

Have I failed to understand

something amusing?

It's a private joke. A stupid one

that can't be explained and make sense

Signor Trilli would appreciate

having Maria to himself

without distractions, I think

I know exactly how he feels

The hardest thing in the world

is getting an actor to stand still

Won't you change your mind

and stay for dinner, Mr Dawes?

No, unhappily I can't

We're off location-hunting in

the morning and have work tonight

I'm overdue right

now, as matter of fact

Maria seems so

happy to have you here

I do hope you won't

return to America too soon

It'll be quite a while

We will see you

before then, I am sure

But I know that Maria will

want you to be at our wedding

Oh, haven't you heard?

I'm giving the bride away

And I did give her away

In an ancient chapel

witnessed by a handful of strangers

I gave the hand of Maria Vargas

into that of Vincenzo,

Count Torlato-Favrini

The servants had their own

party, after the wedding

Nobody can tell me it was like

that when the Borgias got married...

more going on outside

the palazzo than inside

Anyway, there were two receptions

And, knowing the bride as I did

I could tell she felt she'd

come to the wrong reception

The accordion player

is the gardener's son

The guitar is the gardener

- I do not know who plays the violin

- Paganini. He's the pastry cook

They must have more

guests than we have

That's as it should be.

Aristocracy only started to collapse

when there were more

aristocrats than servants

- And they're having more fun

- That they are

On my wedding night, Harry

I thought you would be happier

for me than you seem to be

Are you happy? Well, then I'm happy

It's just different from

what I'd pictured. I...

I had something corny in mind

Like dancing at your wedding.

Real bashful-boy stuff

Then come dance with me, out there.

We belong out there anyway

Maybe I do. But not you.

Not any more, contessa

Vincenzo, would you object

to dancing with me out there?

I would not object to

anything you wanted to do

but I don't think you'd

want to spoil their fun

But they are celebrating our

wedding. Don't they expect us?

I imagine they are

afraid we might turn up

It's hard to believe,

in this day and age

What makes you think we

live in this day and age?

Well, the time has come

Bedtime for children under

12 and movie directors

I'll see you out

In case I wasn't

heard above the hubbub

- once more, I congratulate you

- Thank you

- And me

- And you

Oh, uh... I've got to say something.

I hope you won't mind

I won't know until

after you've said it

My relationship with Maria...

It's been a strange one. I've

never known what it was, really

Friend, director, confessor,

part-time amateur psychiatrist...

And, as of now, father of the bride?

As of now, more like a godfather

A fairy godfather,

with a sense of reality

No one could wish for anything more

She's lived her whole life

as a fairy tale, you know?

No, I did not know

She's never been in love before.

Take my word for it.

She's vulnerable. Wide

open to be hurt badly

Emotionally, she's a child

And she's wrapped all her dreams up

in one dream prince, and you're it

That's quite a responsibility

I don't want her hurt badly.

I don't want her hurt at all

Do you think I do? I don't mind

what you have said, Mr Dawes

But I wonder why did you

find it necessary to say

Oh, I don't know. My sense

number six again, maybe

- Number six?

- Another private joke. Good night

Good night

I have seen you like

this once or twice before

When your characters do not

work out as you have planned

or have taken a step themselves

and you're not sure

what the next will be

Let's not talk

about my script now

I'm not. You know

I'm talking about me

- It's not going to be easy

- Has it been, up till now?

- Good luck, contessa

- Don't you call me that

- I forget the Spanish for Cinderella

- Nor that

Some relationship we have!

Three pictures together

and not even a nickname

What is not going to be easy?

I wish I knew. I wish I knew

I saw her just once more

after that wedding night

Twice, really

But the second time, she was dead

The first time was

exactly a week ago

It rained all that

day and all that night

It hasn't stopped since,

come to think of it

I was holed up at my hotel

doing some last-minute rewriting

Avanti

- Just because you're a contessa...

- Are you happy to see me?

doesn't give you the right

to walk out of my life

and then walk right back in

any rainy night you feel like it

- I was just looking

- There isn't much to see

I'd like to decide for myself

For a contessa who doesn't

drink... That's Cognac

I know

- How was your trip?

- You mean my... honeymoon?

Whatever you were going on

the morning after your wedding

I don't want my honeymoon to

be called a trip. It was fine

You've been away all this time?

How much time has it been?

I've never known a bride

who couldn't tell you almost to the

minute, for the first year or so

Thirteen weeks, three days...

seven hours and twelve minutes

No, I've not been away all that time

We've been home for ten weeks

Nice of you to drop in.

Just passing by, I imagine

You don't have to hide. It's just me

I have to. I can't look at you

Now, you didn't drive here in

a rainstorm "not" to look at me

I'm on your side, remember?

Harry...

At any rate, this

is what I have known

I have known what it

is like to be in love

To be married in a church

to a man that I love

And on my wedding night to wait

for him, with my heart full of love

I have loved you all of my life

This is why I have never been

able to love anyone else before you

You have been unreal

to me for so long

it is hard to believe

that all of this

is not something I

dreamed a long time ago

- Is it true that you love me?

- I do love you

Maria...

there are things that

must be said sometimes...

for which there are no words

Or at least no way to say them

so that they are not

ugly and full of pain

You find it hard to believe

that this is not just a dream

you dreamed long time ago

It might very well be just that

Almost everything

that has to do with us

has been dreamlike up to now

How we met and why we met

Our understanding, without

question and without surprise

that we were never to be apart again

How much more like a

dream can a dream be?

But inevitably there

comes a time for waking up

even for us

A time for facing

the pain and ugliness

that can be kept out of

dreams but not out of reality

It is important that you believe

everything I say to you now

I love you with all of my heart

Do you believe me?

You are everything I

would want as my wife

I would want no one else.

I am proud of you

I want to make you as happy

as I can, as long as I live

As for the rest of

what I have to say

you will find it neatly typed, at

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