The Counselor

Synopsis: At a crisis center in late 1971, a freshly minted counselor on the late shift takes his first call: a suicidal teenager whose parents won't let her come home for Christmas. The call exposes truths about each that lead to a surprising conclusion.
 
IMDB:
7.6
Year:
2017
11 min
4,007 Views


Are you awake?

No.

What time is it?

Two o'clock.

Almost two o'clock.

AM or PM?

You're not serious.

Not entirely.

It's afternoon.

I know.

What time is your flight?

7:
40 to Amsterdam.

I haven't seen

you for two weeks,

and you're leaving

again this evening?

I know.

I'll be gone for just a few days.

God, you're a sexy woman.

What are you doing?

I'm not doing anything.

They're going to take

me out of here on a gurney.

Ah!

Tell me something sexy.

I want you to put

your hand up my dress.

But you're not wearing a dress.

What does that

have to do with it?

It's something you

like for me to say.

I know.

But it has to be real, doesn't it?

Why don't you just tell me what it

is that you want me to do to you?

I want you to touch me.

You want me to touch you where?

I want you to

touch me down there.

You do?

I really do.

Say it more sexy.

I want you to touch me.

God, you're sopping.

I know.

How did you get yourself

into such a state?

From thinking about you.

From thinking about me, what?

From thinking about your

sweet face between my legs.

Wait, wait, wait.

I think I should go tidy up.

I don't want you to.

Slow, slow, slow.

How do you know how to do that?

From hanging out

with really nasty girls.

You've ruined me,

you know that?

I hope so.

Oh, my God!

Ah.

Do you like it because it

reminds you of somewhere else?

That's not why I like it.

I like it for itself.

It doesn't have

to be like something else.

No.

Do I remind you

of someone else?

Yes, you do.

Someone you miss?

Someone who is dead.

I don't think I miss things.

I think to miss something is to

hope that it will come back.

But it's not coming back.

I've always known that

since I was a girl.

You don't think

that's a bit cold?

I think truth

has no temperature.

Mmm.

There it goes.

Follow me, please.

Good morning.

I want her to have something that

she won't be uncomfortable wearing.

I don't want to

give her a diamond

so big,

she'd be afraid to wear it.

She is probably more

courageous than you imagine.

Is this a pillow?

No, it's an Asscher.

Look at the corners.

Let's put it in

the grading box.

The pillow has a slight arc

to the sides.

It is a modern version

of the old-mine cut.

Let's look at the color.

Put it table-side down.

So you're looking

through the pavilion?

Yes,

there's more to look through.

It appears to be yellow.

It's nitrogen that

gives it the yellow.

The colors start with D.

A D-stone has no color.

So, what am I looking at?

H.

Is that still a good color?

That's a very good color.

The truth is that

anything you can say

about the diamond is

in the nature of a flaw.

A perfect diamond would be

composed simply of light.

Do you see the inclusion?

No.

It is small,

what we would call a feather.

Remember,

you're not looking for merit.

This is a cynical business.

We seek only imperfection.

Yes.

I think I see it.

So, it is graded what?

A VS1.

Some might grade it higher.

You might grade it higher.

You like this stone?

Oh. I like that stone.

How many carats is it?

3.9.

It's expensive.

The stones themselves

have their own view of things.

Let me show you.

This is a cautionary stone.

Although, I suppose

every diamond is cautionary.

A cautionary diamond.

Of course, why not?

It's not a small thing to wish for,

however unattainable,

to aspire to

the stone's endless destiny.

Isn't that

the meaning of adornment?

To enhance

the beauty of the beloved

is to acknowledge

both her frailty,

and the nobility

of that frailty.

We announce to the darkness

that we will not be diminished

by the brevity of our lives.

That we will not

thereby be made less.

You will see.

Afternoon, sir.

Thank you.

Looking good, Counselor.

Chris.

How you doing?

Good.

Where's Reiner?

He's in there.

You don't have

to worry about it.

Yeah, but who paid for it?

I put the credit card down.

So, obviously, I paid for it.

You paid for it? I don't care.

But you like it?

I do like it.

I've never been to Barbados.

Are all the ladies as sexy as you?

It's a steaming pit

of sexual abandon.

I don't believe you.

Well, it used to be. I left.

Ah, come in.

Good morning, Counselor.

Good morning. Malkina.

Hola, guapo.

Hey.

How's Laura?

Incredible.

That sounds about right.

Nice lady, nice lady.

I assume that she's not privy to

your newest business venture.

She's not. And your lady?

Uh...

Yeah.

"Yeah," what?

I don't know what she knows.

I don't want to know.

You don't trust her?

Jesus, Counselor.

She's a woman.

I don't mean to

sound that cold.

I just mean that, where men are concerned,

they've got their own agenda.

I always liked smart women.

But it's been an expensive hobby, you know?

Yeah.

Do you know what

all that stuff is?

Mostly, yeah.

Anything I don't know, I can ask her.

Which worries me even more.

You never told me what happened

with you and

the lovely Clarissa.

Ms. Clarissa of

the extraordinary body.

I think in the end,

it was jealousy that undid us.

Jealousy?

Yeah,

she was getting more p*ssy than I was.

Is that true?

I think so.

Probably, yeah.

So, is this place secure?

Who knows?

I don't speak in arraignable

phrases anywhere.

There's a scrambler on

the phone, but still,

there's a lot of

smart people out there.

Of course,

anybody who thinks he's the smartest

is on his way to the slam.

Would that be me?

No, no.

Although, I have to

say that I always thought

a law degree was

a license to steal

and that you, for one,

hadn't really capitalized on it.

You're not the straight dude

people think though, are you?

I guess not.

I don't mean the caper, I mean you.

Women like you.

All right.

Do you know what

they like about you?

I'm a good f***?

Right!

No, they can sniff out

the moral dilemma.

The paradox.

"Moral dilemma."

Yeah, they're drawn to it.

Not sure why.

Maybe it's just that lacking

any moral sense themselves,

they're

fascinated by it in men.

Men are attracted to flawed women,

too, of course,

but their illusion

is that they can fix them.

Women don't want

to fix anything.

They only want

to be entertained.

The truth about

women is you can

do anything to

them except bore them.

Well

there's nothing about Laura

that I would want to fix.

Maybe not.

Do you think she

knows things about me

that I don't know about myself?

Jesus, Counselor, I'm not even sure

what sort of question that is.

Yeah.

Okay.

If you pursue this road

that you've embarked upon,

you will eventually

come to moral decisions

that will take you

completely by surprise.

You won't see it coming at all.

I don't intend

to take this up as a trade.

Yeah, one-time deal, right?

Which you've heard

a thousand times.

No, but a few.

What usually happens is that

after a couple of deals,

they know more than you do and they

set up shop across the street.

And how does that

work out for them?

Not well.

So,

that would be a moral issue.

Not for me.

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Katie L. Fetting

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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