Youth Page #13

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QUEEN’S EMISSARY

Let’s see if we can resolve these

personal problems then. What is it

that is wrong?

FRED BALLINGER:

(at random) The soprano.

The emissary beams. He thinks they have arrived at a

solution.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

We’ll get a different one, then, no

problem.

FRED BALLINGER:

It wouldn’t make any difference.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

Even though Sumi Jo is the absolute

best, and she has already expressed

her enthusiasm at being directed by

you. She’s ecstatic! In seventh

heaven!

FRED BALLINGER:

I’m not interested.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

What is it you have against her?

57.

FRED BALLINGER:

Nothing! I don’t even know her.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

And so?!

Fred loses his patience for the first time. He raises his

voice, practically shouts.

FRED BALLINGER:

So enough already!

Lena cries more openly now, her eyes brimming with tears.

She tries to hide them, but she can’t.

The emissary notices Lena’s tears and is dumbfounded. He’s

trying to understand, but doesn’t know what to say. He throws

open his arms in defeat.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

I just do not understand. What

exactly is the problem?

Fred shouts at him again. His words come tumbling out,

unplanned.

FRED BALLINGER:

The problem is that those Simple

Songs were composed for my wife.

And only my wife performed them,

only my wife recorded them. And as

long as I live, my wife will be the

only one to sing them. The problem,

my dear sir, is that my wife can’t

sing any more. Now do you

understand? Do you?

Lena has buried her face in her hands, trying to stifle her

sobs.

Fred is beside himself. He looks exhausted, drained.

The emissary is struck dumb. He gets to his feet and stubs

out his cigarette in the pack. He is deeply dismayed.

QUEEN’S EMISSARY

Yes, I do understand now, and I beg

your pardon. Maestro.

He walks quickly to the door.

Fred and Lena just sit there, he staring into space and she

weeping behind him.

58.

31A. INT/EXT. CORRIDOR + HOTEL BRIDGE. DAY.

31A/1

In close-up, the bells in the corridors trill merrily.

31A/2

On the bridge where the staff goes to smoke, they all put out

their cigarettes and, like a flock of sheep, head back inside

the hotel to work.

32. INT. MASSAGE ROOM. DAY

The young masseuse is rubbing oil on her hands.

Fred Ballinger, lying on his stomach on the massage table,

his head stuck in the hole, looks down at the floor, right at

the girl’s tiny sandals.

The masseuse places her hands gently on Fred’s naked back.

She begins massaging him, but stops after a minute.

MASSEUSE:

I’m going to give you a different

type of massage, because you are

stressed. No, to be precise, you’re

not stressed, you’re emotional.

FRED BALLINGER:

You understand everything with your

hands.

MASSEUSE:

We can understand all sorts of

things by touching. Who knows why

people are so afraid of touching.

FRED BALLINGER:

Maybe because they think it has

something to do with pleasure.

MASSEUSE:

Which is another good reason for

touching instead of talking.

Fred is silent. He stares at the floor for a while. Then he

says:

FRED BALLINGER:

Don’t you like to talk?

MASSEUSE:

(frank) I never have anything to

say.

FRED BALLINGER:

We forget sometimes, but sincerity

is beautiful, isn’t it?

59.

But the masseuse has changed the kind of massage she is

doing. She has nothing more to say, so she doesn’t say

anything.

Fred relaxes and closes his eyes.

33. EXT. MOUNTAIN PEAK. DAY

Mick and his young screenwriters are climbing up a steep

mountain path.

They meet a young family coming down the mountain. The father

is wearing a toddler backpack carrier, in which his threeyear-

old son is sleeping peacefully. Mick looks at the

sleeping child.

Dressed for trekking, Mick and his young screenwriters are

ascending an impassable mountain trail. They reach the summit

- what a view! We can sense that suspended silence, the

clean, crisp air, and appreciate the magnificent panorama of

the mountains and the valley below.

There is a telescope at the lookout point, one of those

tourist ones you have to put a coin in to make it work.

They admire the panorama in silence. Mick breaks away from

the group and puts a coin in the telescope. Then he calls his

young screenwriters over.

MICK BOYLE:

Come look.

The girl goes first. She peers into the telescope. Mick

instructs her as the others listen in.

MICK BOYLE (CONT’D)

Now listen. Do you see that

mountain over there?

GIRL:

Yeah, it seems really close.

MICK BOYLE:

Exactly. That’s what you see when

you’re young. Everything seems

really close. That’s the future.

Now come with me.

She takes the girl by the hand and invites her to look

through the telescope from the other direction.

The girl looks from the other side and sees the faces of her

friends. They look really far away even though they’re only

six feet away from her.

60.

MICK BOYLE (CONT’D)

And this is what you see when

you’re old. Everything seems really

far away. That’s the past.

The girl looking in the telescope is moved. He’s too far away

in the inverted lens, so she can’t see that the boy she’s

always fighting with is moved as well.

They’re all at a loss for words.

Mick crouches over a knapsack and pulls out a bottle of

spumante and some plastic cups, talking all the while.

MICK BOYLE (CONT’D)

When I was young, I used to say to

myself:
if I grow old I’m not going

to make the same mistake all old

people make, I’m not going to

become boring and pedantic. But

that’s exactly what I have become.

So, forgive me.

Now for the serious stuff: Brenda

can’t wait to get started. And I am

so proud of having written this

screenplay with you. I have to

confess something. I’ve made twenty

films, but they’re all irrelevant.

This is the only film that means

anything to me. This film has...

yes, well, it’s my sentimental,

intellectual, and moral testament.

This film is the only thing that

matters to me. Nothing else. And

so, let’s toast to the completion

of the third draft of “Life’s Last

Day.”

SCREENWRITER 1

What about the ending, Mick?

MICK BOYLE:

The ending... We’ll come up with

one, sooner or later. Cheers.

33A. EXT. GARDEN WITH CANOPY. DAY

The beautiful garden with its centuries-old trees and

canopied paths is deserted until a stocky, big-bellied man,

completely covered in mud, appears. He looks like a statue

that has turned out wrong. He’s clutching a cell phone,

yelling in Italian with a heavy Neapolitan accent.

MUD MAN:

You gotta realize, baby, you're

asking me to deliver 24,000

mozzarel in two days.

(MORE)

61.

MUD MAN (CONT'D)

We’re not even in the same

universe, capisc? Now listen good:

don’t you go stressing me during my

relaxing vacation, cuz the last guy

who did that never managed to relax

again... Ciao.

I'll send you a WhatsApp tomorrow.

34. EXT. HOTEL POOL. DAY

Jimmy Tree and Fred Ballinger float serenely in the pool.

Side by side, their shoulders resting against the edge of the

pool, they let themselves be cradled by the powerful jet of

water hitting their backs.

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