Youth Page #10

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LENA:

You can understand me, Daddy? Like

hell you can! Mummy would have been

able to understand me. Mummy found

herself with you in the same

situation I’m in now, not once but

dozens of times. And she always

pretended not to know. You had a

stream of women, but she just kept

going. Not just for us children,

but also, above all, for you. She

loved you and so she forgave you.

No matter what happened, she still

wanted to be with you. But who were

you? Who? That’s what I always

asked myself. You never gave

anything, not to her, not to me,

nothing. You gave everything to

your music. Music, music, music!

There was nothing else in your

life. Only music. And aridness.

Never a caress, never a hug, a

kiss, nothing. You never knew

anything about your children. You

never knew if we were suffering, if

we were happy. Nothing. Everything

was on mummy’s shoulders.

(MORE)

44.

LENA (CONT'D)

At home, all you’d ever say to her

were two words:
“Quiet, Melanie.”

And mummy would explain to us,

“Quiet, daddy’s composing,” “Quiet,

daddy’s resting, he has a concert

tonight,” “Quiet, daddy is talking

on the phone with someone

important.” “Quiet, daddy has

Stravinsky coming to the house

today.” You wanted to be

Stravinsky, but you didn't have a

single drop of his genius.

"Quiet, Melanie!", was all you knew

how to say.

You never knew the first thing

about my mother!

You never bothered to take care of

her. And even now, you haven’t

brought her flowers for ten years.

And then that letter! You think

mummy never read it? Well, you’re

wrong. She found it and she read

it. And I read it too. You probably

don’t even remember that letter,

but we do. The letter in which you

declared your love for another man.

Mummy had to endure that

humiliation too. “My necessary

experimentation in sexual matters,”

as you put it. So your musical

experimentation wasn’t enough for

you, you had to experiment with

homosexuality too! And you didn’t

give a f*** about all the anguish

you caused her. So don’t come

telling me that you can understand,

because you don’t understand a

f***ing thing.

She’s done. Silence. Fred doesn’t say a word. They just lie

there, buried in mud, staring at the ceiling.

The double bass notes are done as well.

23. INT. HOTEL GYM. DAY

One entire wall is set up for free climbing.

The hippy mountaineer is at the top of the wall, thirty feet

up, hanging by one hand, dangling in the air without a safety

rope, with an admirable casualness.

He addresses that pale, thirteen-year-old girl we saw

earlier. She stands down below, near the base of the wall.

She hasn’t even climbed an inch. The mountaineer speaks

sweetly from up above.

45.

MOUNTAINEER:

Come on, Frances, give it a try.

The girl looks up at him but doesn’t say a word. She’s still

biting her nails.

MOUNTAINEER (CONT’D)

Wouldn’t you like to come see what

the world looks like from up here?

The girl looks at him and nods.

MOUNTAINEER (CONT’D)

Good, now give it a go.

The girl shakes her head no.

MOUNTAINEER (CONT’D)

Ok, wait there.

In three swift moves, the mountaineer is back at her side.

MOUNTAINEER (CONT’D)

Climb on my shoulders.

The girl gets onto his huge shoulders. He starts climbing

confidently, easily, as if he were carrying a knapsack

instead of a human being.

MOUNTAINEER (CONT’D)

Ok, now, as we climb, look down.

See how beautiful the world is from

up here?

The girl, clinging to his shoulders, turns and looks down.

And from high up on the wall she spots someone standing at

the door to the gym, looking up at them. It’s Lena.

So the girl “knocks” on the mountaineer’s shoulder, inviting

him to turn. He looks down, but Lena’s not there. She has

already disappeared.

24. EXT./INT. HOTEL GARDEN/MASSEUSE’S ROOM. DAY

We’re in a different garden now, more isolated, further away

from the hotel, one that abuts the building where the staff

lives. Guests never come here. The main hotel seems far away.

In the center of the garden are abundant rose bushes,

fountains, even a fake little stream. All laid out - rather

clumsily - to resemble a lush, lyrical garden of Eden.

As we said, there’s no one here. No, wait - there’s Fred.

He’s sitting on a bench staring at the fake little stream,

sucking on a candy. His eyes are so laden with melancholy it

would be impossible for them to look any sadder. He seems

dazed, absent, lost in thought.

46.

All of a sudden he rouses himself. He blows his nose, quickly

rubs the tip four times with his handkerchief, folds it, and

puts it back in his pocket.

As he puts his handkerchief away, his eye is drawn to

something in a ground-floor window: his tiny, timid masseuse,

in shorts and a T-shirt, is dancing, moving gracefully in

front of a TV. She’s playing a Kinect game. A stylized female

figurine on the TV screen demonstrates the moves for her.

It’s marvelous and moving to see this petite girl dance. And

with such incongruous intensity. She’s all sweaty, her hair

plastered to her forehead and temples.

Fred watches her while his hand instinctively, rhythmically

rubs a candy wrapper.

Fred doesn’t notice that there’s another man there, behind

him, wrapped in a white robe. He’s watching the girl dance

too. It’s Jimmy Tree, the American actor.

25. INT. HOTEL RESTAURANT. EVENING

Lots of people at dinner. Still that cavernous silence.

Fred and Mick stare at the silent German couple, in matching

tonalities today too, a blue theme this time.

Lena enters the dining room. She has abandoned her simple,

sober look and is wearing a highly provocative dress and has

a new, very flattering hairstyle.

A wave of nostalgia floods Mick’s heart.

MICK BOYLE:

You remind me of Brenda Morel when

she was thirty. When she made "At

James' house" with me. You should

dress this way all the time, Lena.

LENA:

From now on that's exactly what I’m

going to do.

Fred follows Lena with her eyes, but she deliberately avoids

looking at him and takes her seat at the table.

The mountaineer, seated at another table, can’t help but

notice how beautiful Lena is. His eyes light up, but then

grow dull again, as if he’s been defeated even before he

begins. Dejected, he puts down his spoon and stops eating.

Mark Kozelek and his other friends have joined Jimmy at his

table. They’re all talking, in groups of two, all except for

Jimmy. He’s fixated on the mountaineer and Lena, and doesn’t

miss a thing of what is unfolding between them.

47.

Then, all of a sudden, something unbelievable happens.

The German woman gets up calmly and slaps her husband so hard

he nearly falls out of his chair.

It goes without saying that everyone turns and gapes in

astonishment.

The woman walks out of the dining room in the most dignified

manner imaginable.

Mick’s, Fred’s and Lena’s jaws drop. Stunned, they follow the

whole thing.

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