The Beach Page #4

SAMMY:

Do you know the Kentucky friend mouse story?"

RICHARD:

Woman bites chicken leg, turns out to be

a mouse. Or a rat. It's an urban myth.

SAMMY:

Exactly. Always happened to someone else.

RICHARD:

So?

SAMMY:

So there's an urban myth, well more of a

rural myth, going around here at the

moment. It's about a beach.

RICHARD:

Uh-huh.

ZEPH:

Yea. This beach is perfect. It's on an

island, right, hidden from the sea.

Imagine:
pure white sand and enough dope

to smoke all day every day for the rest

of your life. Only a few know exactly

where it is and they won't tell anyone.

SAMMY:

Of course no one's actually ever met any

of these people, only met someone who has.

You know what I mean. It's a Kentucky

fried mouse.

RICHARD:

I hadn't heard that one before. But it's

good. It's a good story.

A torch shines on them, jolting them into some sort of

reaction and a woman's voice calls out.

THAI WOMAN:

Hey, you! I got your key!

INT. BUNGALOW. DAY

Richard's rucksack is packed an by the door.

Richard is sitting copying Daffy's map on to another sheet

of paper. He finishes and writes a note on the copy.

He puts the original in his pack and lifts it.

EXT. BUNGALOW. DAY.

Richard hops over the fence to the veranda of Zeph and

Sammy's bungalow.

He slips the folded copy under their door.

He looks around to check that he has not been seen.

EXT BEACH. DAY

Richard walks along a narrow wooden pontoon, his rucksack on

his back.

He stops about half way along at a small narrow wooden boat

with an outboard motor.

He looks down into it.

Etienne and Francoise walk past him along the pontoon without

stopping and disappear from view.

RICHARD (V.O.)

OK, let's face it. There is no such thing

as a local fisherman anymore. There really

isn't the demand for them. If you want to

catch fish you put down a hundred

kilometer drag net.

Richard walks away along the pontoon.

RICHARD (V.O.)

(continuing)

And if you want to go somewhere - you get

a taxi.

EXT. SEA.. DAY.

Richard, Francoise and Etienne sit at the back of a small

powerful motor launch which skims across the surface of the

sea with great noise and speed.

EXT. BEACH. DAY.

The motor launch idles gently as it drifts into the shallows

of a small deserted bay.

Richard Francoise, and Etienne jump from the boat into the

shallows.

EXT. BEACH. NIGHT.

As the sun sets they sit in silence, each shoveling down

forkloads of noodles.

EXT. BEACH. NIGHT.

The only sounds are those of crickets and the waves gently

breaking on the shore.

Richard is lying asleep on the sand.

He is woken by someone rummaging through the rucksack beside

him. It is Francoise, removing clothes, books, souvenirs.

Eventually she finds her camera, a mini-tripod and a

cable-release.

She places them on an unfolded T-shirt on the sand.

RICHARD:

Francoise -

FRANCOISE:

Sshh. Etienne will be angry if I wake him.

He thinks I waste film taking photographs

of the sky.

Richard wakes up and works out what she is doing.

RICHARD:

I think so too.

FRANCOISE:

One night I will get the perfect

photograph.

She presses the cable release.

FRANCOISE:

(continuing)

Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six.

She lets the shutter close.

FRANCOISE:

(continuing)

Take a look.

Richard leans over and squints down the viewfinder.

The sky is framed. Francoise leans into the frame.

Richard draws back.

RICHARD:

You realize that in the eternity of space,

there is a planet, just like this one,

where you are photographing back towards

us. You're photographing yourself.

FRANCOISE:

Incredible.

RICHARD:

There are infinite worlds out there,

where anything that can happen does happen.

FRANCOISE:

So on one you are rich, on another poor.

On one you are a murderer, on another the

victim.

RICHARD:

Exactly.

FRANCOISE:

Richard, you know something -

She hands him the cable release while she adjusts the camera.

FRANCOISE:

(continuing)

That is just the kind of pretentious

bullshit that Englishmen and Americans

always say to French girls so that they

can sleep with them.

RICHARD:

Sorry. I thought I was doing quite well.

FRANCOISE:

It's just the sky, Richard.

She presses his thumb down on the cable release, her hand

around his.

FRANCOISE:

(continuing)

Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept…

EXT. NIGHT. SKY.

Francoise voice fades away over an image of the night sky.

Time lapse:
the sky rapidly changes to day.

RICHARD (V.O.)

When you develop an infatuation for

someone, you always find a reason to

believe that this is exactly the person

for you. It doesn't need to be a good

reason, a bad one will do just as well.

Taking photographs of the night sky, for

example:
in the long run that's just the

kind of dumb irritating habit that would

cause you to split up. But at the time -

it's the charming eccentricity you've

been searching for all these years.

EXT. BEACH. DAY.

From a different beach they look towards their target: the

island. It is 1-2 kilometers away.

Richard, Etienne, and Francoise stand on the beach looking

towards it. Each is in their swimwear and a T-shirt, and

carries a plastic bag, inflated and tied, in which they

carry their valuables and some rations.

ETIENNE:

One kilometer

FRANCOISE:

Two.

ETIENNE:

Richard?

RICHARD:

I don't know - I'm American.

ETIENNE:

So?

RICHARD:

We think in miles, not kilometers.

ETIENNE:

So how many miles do you think it is?

RICHARD:

I have no idea but it looks like a long

way.

FRANCOISE:

Too far?

RICHARD:

If it's too far, then we'll drown. But if

we don’t try then we'll never know.

Richard wades into the water.

RICHARD:

So, let's go.

RICHARD (V.O.)

You have to enjoy a moment like that. You

just don't know, you see; it may never

happen again. Once more.

RICHARD:

SO, let's go.

RICHARD (V.O.)

I am such a f***ing hero. "Let's go". I

felt like I'd waited all my life just to

say something like that. So I replayed it

a couple of times, taking it from

different perspectives.

EXT. BEACH. DAY.

Multiple repeats of Richard's moment from various

perspectives and speeds.

RICHARD:

So:
let's go.

RICHARD (V.O.)

You have to enjoy a moment like that. You

just don't know, you see: it may never

happen again. Once more.

RICHARD:

So:
let's go.

He dives in and begins swimming.

EXT. SEA. DAY.

They are far out to sea now, several hundred meters from

the shore.

Richard swims at the front, the other two about five meters

behind.

RICHARD:

Everyone ok?

ETIENNE:

We're ok.

RICHARD:

I think we're about half way.

A few strokes later.

ETIENNE:

Richard - I saw a fin!

RICHARD:

What!

ETIENNE:

A fin!

They all stop and tread water.

RICHARD:

A shark fin?

ETIENNE:

I don't know, just a fin. Over there.

About a hundred meters.

RICHARD:

Big?

ETIENNE:

Yes.

RICHARD:

Well what the f*** do you expect me to do

about it.

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