Before Sunrise
Transcribed by Brad Cohen
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Opening Scene
[Eurail Coach car. Various people around car]
[Man and woman argue in German. Woman slaps man, grabs newspaper]
[Selene looks up from book, disturbed. Moves to another seat, across from Jesse. They glance over at each other]
[German woman leaves car][Jesse and Selene look at each other, smile. Selene looks away]
Jesse: Do you have any idea what they were arguing about?
Selene: [glances up at him, looks over]
Jesse: Do you - Do you speak English?
Selene: Yeah. No, I'm sorry, my German is not very good. Have you ever heard that as couples get older, they lose their ability to hear each other?
Jesse: No.
Selene: Well, supposedly, men lose the ability to hear higher-pitched sounds, and women eventually lose hearing in the low end. I guess they sort of nullify each other, or something.
Jesse: I guess. Nature's way of allowing couples to grow old together without killing each other. [Selene smiles, small laugh, turns away] What are you reading? [she shows him] Oh, yeah.
Selene: How bout you?
Jesse: Umm. [Looks down, then laughs as he shows her, and she smiles.
[Couple returns to car, still arguing, albeit a lot calmer]
Jesse: Look, I was thinking about going to the lounge car sometime soon. Would you like to come with me?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Okay.
[They go to lounge car]
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Scene 2
[Upon entering the dining/lounge car]
Jesse: So how do you speak such good English?
Selene: I went to school for a summer in Los Angeles. [points to table] This fine here?
Jesse: Yeah, this is good. [They sit]
Selene: Then I spent some time in London. How do you speak such good English?
Jesse: Me? I'm American.
Selene: You're American?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: Are you sure?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: [laughing] No, I'm joking. I knew you were American. And of course, you don't speak any other language, right?
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, I get it. So I'm the crude, dumb, vulgar American who has no culture, right? But, I tried. I took french for four years in high school. When I first got to Paris, I stood in line at the Métro station. I was practicing. 'Un billet, s'il vous plaît. Un billet s'il vous plaît' y'know --
Selene: [interrupts him, corrects his pronunciation] un billet.
Jesse: 'Un' [corrected]. Whatever. 'Un, Un.' [laughs] 'Un billet s'il vous plaît, un billet s'il vous plaît,' y'know, and I get up there, and, uh, I look at this woman, and my mind goes completely blank. And I start saying, 'uh, listen, uh, I need a ticket to get to... y'know so anyway. So, where are you headed?
Selene: Well, back to Paris. My classes start next week.
Jesse: Oh, you're still in school? Where do you go?
Selene: Yeah, La Sorbonne, you know?
Jesse: Well, sure. [pause] Hey, you coming from Budapest?
Selene: Yeah, I was visiting my grandmother.
Jesse: Oh. How's she?
Selene: [laughing] She's okay.
Jesse: She's alright?
Selene: She's fine, yeah. [pause] How bout you? Where are you going?
Jesse: Uh, I'm going to Vienna.
Selene: Vienna? What's there?
Jesse: Uh, I have no idea. I'm flying out of there tomorrow.
Selene: Ah ha. you on holiday?
Jesse: Uh, ye- [indecisive]. Uh, I don't really know what I'm on.
Selene: Okay.
Jesse: I've just been. I'm just traveling around, I've been riding the trains the past two, three weeks.
Selene: You were visiting friends, or just on your own?
Jesse: Uh, yeah. Y'know I had a friend in Madrid, but, umm..
Selene: Madrid? That's nice.
Jesse: Yeah, I got one of those Eurail passes, is what I did.
Selene: That's great. So, has this trip, around Europe, been good for you?
Jesse: Yeah, sure, yeah, it's been, umm... it sucked. Y'know...
Selene: What?
Jesse: No, uh, it's had its, umm. Well, I'll tell ya, y'know, sitting, y'know, for weeks on end, looking out the window has actually been kinda great.
Selene: What do you mean?
Jesse: Well, you know, for instance, you have ideas that you ordinarily wouldn't have.
Selene: What kind of ideas?
Jesse: You want to hear one?
Selene: Yeah, tell me.
Jesse: Alright, uh, I had this idea, okay?
Selene: Um-hmm...
Jesse: For a television show. Some friends of mine are these cable access producers, do you know what that is, cable access? [Selene shakes her head] Umm, I dunno... Anybody can produce a show real cheap, and they have to put it on. Right? And I have this idea for this show that would last 24 hours a day for a year straight, right? What you do, is you get 365 people from cities all over the world, to do these 24 hour documents of real time, right, capturing life as its lived. Um, you know, it would start with uh, a guy waking up in the morning, and, uh, y'know, taking the long shower, eating a little breakfast, making a little coffee, you know, and, uh, reading the paper.
Selene: Wait, wait. All those mundane, boring things everybody has to do everyday of their fucking life? (oh, whoops)
Jesse: I was going to say the poetry of day to day life, but,[Selene starts laughing] you know, you say the way you say it, I'll say it the way I say it...
Selene: [laughs] I like that.
Jesse: ... No listen, think about it like this...
Selene: Who's gonna want to watch this?
Jesse: Well, alright, think about it like this. Why is it, that a dog, y'know, sleeping in the sun, is so beautiful, y'know, it is, its beautiful, y'know, but a guy, standing at a bank machine, trying to take some money out, looks like a complete moron?
Selene: So, its like a National Geographic program, but on people?
Jesse: Yeah!
Selene: Hmm.
Jesse: What do you think?
Selene: Yeah, I can [laughs] I can [laughs] I can see it. Like twenty four boring hours, sorry, and like a three minute sex scene, where he falls asleep right after, no?
Jesse: Yeah, y'know I mean, and... I mean, that would be a great episode.
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: People would talk about that episode. I mean, you and your friends could do one in Paris, if you wanted to, I mean.
Selene: Oh, sure.
Jesse: I dunno, the key, the key.. the thing that kind of haunts me is the distribution, y'know. I mean, getting these tapes from town to town, city to city, so that the play is continuous, cause it would have to play all the time, or else it just wouldn't work.
[Waiter approaches the table, hands them menus.]
Selene: Thank you.
Jesse: Thanks. [pause, while waiter walks away]. You know what? Not service oriented. [music starts, camera begins to pan out] Its just, I don't know, an observation about Europe.
[Scene fades out, fades back in]
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Scene 3
[Still in the lounge car, some indeterminate amount of time later].
Selene: You know my parents have never really spoken of the possibility of my falling in love, or getting married, or having children. Even as a little girl, they wanted me to think of a future career, as a, you know, as a interior designer, or a lawyer, or something like that. I'd say to my dad, 'I want to be a writer.' and he'd say journalist. I'd say I wanted to have a refuge for stray cats, and he'd say veterinarian. I'd say I wanted to be an actress, and he'd say TV newscaster. It was this constant conversion of my fanciful ambition into these practical, money-making ventures.
Jesse: Hmm. I always had a pretty good bullshit detector when I was a kid, y'know. I always knew when they were lying to me, y'know. By the time I was in high school, I was dead set on listening to what everybody thought I should be doing with my life, and just kind of doing just the opposite.
Selene: Mm, hmm.
Jesse: No one was ever mean about it. Its just, I could never get very excited about other people's ambitions for my life.
Selene: But you know what, if your parents never really fully contradict you about anything, and like are basically nice, and supportive...
Jesse: Right...
Selene: It makes it even harder to officially complain. Y'know, even when they're wrong, its this, its this passive-aggressive shit, you know what I mean, its... I hate it, I really hate it.
Jesse: Well, you know, despite all that kind of bullshit that comes along with it, I remember childhood as this, you know, this magical time. I do. I remember when, uh, my mother first told me about death. My great-grandmother had just died, and my whole family had just visited them in Florida. I was about 3, 3 and a half years old. Anyway, I was in the backyard, playing, and my sister had just taught me how to take the garden hose, and do it in such a way that, uh, you could spray it into the sun, and you could make a rainbow. And so I was doing that, and through the mist I could see my grandmother. And she was just standing there, smiling at me. And uh, then I held it there, for a long time, and I looked at her. And then finally, I let go of the nozzle, y'know, and then I dropped the hose, and she disappeared. And so I went back inside, and I tell my parents, y'know. And they, uh, sit me down give me big rap on how when people die you never see them again, and how I'd imagined it. But, I knew what I'd seen. And I was just glad that I saw that. I mean, I've never seen anything like that since. But, I don't know. It just kind of let me know how ambiguous everything was, y'know, even death.
Selene: You're really lucky you can have this attitude towards death. I think I'm afraid of death 24 hours a day. I swear. I mean, that's why I'm in a train right now. I could have flown to Paris, but I'm too scared.
Jesse: Oh, come.
Selene: I can't help it. I can't help it. I know the statistics say na-na-na, its safer, whatever [Jesse laughs]. When I'm in a plane, I can see it. I can see the explosion, [Jesse gives explosion sound effect]. I can see me falling through the clouds, and I'm so scared of those few seconds of consciousness before you're gonna die, you know, when you know for sure you're gonna die. I can't stop thinking that way. Its exhausting.
Jesse: Yeah, I bet.
Selene: Really exhausting. [she looks out window, points, as train slows down]. I think this is Vienna.
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: You get off here, no?
Jesse: Yeah, what a drag. I wish I had met you earlier, you know, I really like talking to you.
Selene: Yeah, me too. It was really nice to meet you. [train stops]
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Scene 4
[in train, Selene sitting alone, Jesse comes up, with his bag, to her]
Jesse: Alright, I have an admittedly insane idea, but if I don't ask you this, its just, uh, you know, its gonna haunt me the rest of my life.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Um.. [thinks]. I want to keep talking to you, y'know. I have no idea what your situation is, but, uh, but I feel like we have some kind of, uh, connection. Right?
Selene: Yeah, me too.
Jesse: Yeah, right, well, great. So listen, so here's the deal. This is what we should do. You should get off the train with me here in Vienna, and come check out the town.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Come on. It'll be fun. Come on.
Selene: What would we do?
Jesse: Umm, I don't know. All I know is I have to catch an Austrian Airlines flight tomorrow morning at 9:30, and I don't really have enough money for a hotel, so I was just going to walk around, and it would be a lot more fun if you came with me. And if I turn out to be some kind of psycho, you know, you just get on the next train.
[Selene smiles, still unsure]
Jesse: Alright, alright. Think of it like this. Um, uh, jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, y'know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life, and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right? [Selene starts laughing a bit] Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me. y'know, so think of this as time travel, from then, to now, uh, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favour to both you and your future husband, to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy. [motions to towards the door].
Selene: [thinks] Let me get my bag.
Jesse: Yeah.
[They leave train, go into train station]
Jesse: We should get a locker for all this stuff.
Selene: Okay.
[They walk towards the lockers]
Selene: What's your name?
Jesse: My name? Uh, It's Jesse. It's James, actually, but everybody always calls me Jesse. [offers hand]
Selene: You mean, Jesse James? No.
Jesse: No, no. Just Jesse.
Selene: I'm Selene.[they shake hands]
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Scene 5
[on bridge above train station]
Jesse: This is a nice bridge.
Selene: Yeah.
[they walk a few steps]
Selene: This is kind of weird.
Jesse: Yeah, this is kind of weird isn't it? I mean, I feel a little awkward. Um... But its alright, right? Its okay.
Selene: Yeah, this is great, this is great. Let's go to some places. Look at your book.
Jesse: Yeah, we're in Vienna, let's go to some places. Let's ask these guys
[two men are looking over the bridge, at the water below.]
Jesse: Excuse me, excuse me, uh, spreken-ze English?
Fatman: Ja, of course.
Skinny: Couldn't you speak German for a change?
Jesse: What?
Skinny: No, it was a joke.
Jesse: Well, listen, we just got into Vienna today, and we're looking for something fun to do.
Selene: Like museums, exhibitions, things...
Skinny: But museums are not that funny any more these days, uh...
Fatman: Uh, but they are closing right now. How long are you going to be here?
Jesse: Just for tonight.
Skinny: Why did you come to Vienna? What, uh, what could you be expecting?
Jesse: Uh
[perplexed]
Selene: We're on honeymoon.
Jesse: Yeah, she got pregnant, we had to get married, y'know.
Skinny: You know I don't believe you, you're a bad liar.
[Skinny and Fatman exchange 2-3 words each in German....]
Skinny: Ja.
Fatman: See here.
[pulls paper out of pocket]
Skinny: This is a play we're both in, and we would like to invite you.
Selene: You're actors?
Skinny: No, not professional actors, uh, part-time actors, for fun.
Fatman: It's a play about a cow, and an Indian searching for it. There are also in it politicians, Mexicans...
Skinny: Russians, Communists,
Fatman: Russians.
Jesse: So, you have a real cow on stage.
Skinny: No, not a real cow. Its an actor in a cow costume.
Fatman: [Indicating Skinny] And he's the cow.
Skinny: Yes, I am the cow. And the cow is a bit weird.
Fatman: The cow has a disease.
Skinny: She's acting a bit strange, like a dog. If someone throws a stick, she fetches it, and brings it back. And she can smoke, with her hooves, and everything.
Selene: Great.
Fatman: And as you see, there is the address. Its in the Second district.
Skinny: Near the Prata. You know the Prata?
Selene: Oh, the big Ferris Wheel?
Skinny: By the wheel, yes.
Selene: Oh, we should go.
Skinny: Yes, the wheel, everybody knows the wheel.
Fatman: Perhaps you can go to the Prata before the play. It starts at 21:30.
Jesse: 21:30?
Skinny: That's 9:30.
Selene: 9:30.
Jesse: 9:30? oh, right, right. Okay, great, well, what's the name of this play?
Skinny: Uh...
Fatman: It translates as 'Bring me the horns ...
Skinny & Fatman: ... of Wilmington's cow'
Skinny: Ja I'm Wilmington's cow.
Jesse: Alright
Selene: Great.
Jesse: We'll try to be there.
Skinny: You'll be there?
Jesse: We'll try.
Skinny: I'm the cow.
Jesse: You're the cow.
Skinny: Goodbye.
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Scene 6
[on a tram, going through Vienna]
Jesse: Alright, I got an idea. Are you ready?
Selene: Okay.
Jesse: Alright, it's Q&A time. We've known each other a little while now, we're stuck together, so we're going to ask each other a few, uh, direct questions. Alright?
Selene: So, we ask each other questions.
Jesse: And you have to answer 100% honestly.
Selene: Of course.
Jesse: Okay, alright, first question.
Selene: You.
Jesse: [fakes a German accent]. Yes, I'm going to ask you. [German accent again] Describe for me your first sexual feelings towards a person. Describe for me [back to regular]
Selene: [laughs] My first sexual feelings, oh my G-d. Um, I know, I know. Jean-Marc Floris. [laughs]
Jesse: Jean-Marc Floris?
Selene: I remember we were at this summer camp together. And he was a swimmer.
Jesse: Um-Hmm...
Selene: Yeah, he had bleached out chlorine hair and green eyes. And to improve his times, he'd shave the hair off his legs and arms.
Jesse: That's disgusting.
Selene: Oh, no. He was like this gorgeous dolphin. And my friend Emma had a big, big crush on him. So one day I was cutting, y'know across field, back to my room, and he came walking up beside me. You know, and I told him, you know, you should date Emma, she has a big crush on you. And he turned to me and said [making her voice a bit lower] Well, that's too bad, 'cause I have a big crush on you. [Jesse lets his jaw drop] Yeah, it really scared the hell out of me, because I thought he was so fine. And then he officially asked me out on a date, and y'know I pretended I didn't like him. Y'know I was, I was so afraid of what I might do, you know. Uh, well. So, y'know, I went to see him swim a few times, at the swim competition. And he was so sexy, really, I mean, really sexy. Y'know we kind of wrote these little declarations of love to each other at the end of the summer, and you know, promised we would keep writing forever, and I, y'know, meet again very soon, and
Jesse: Did you?
Selene: Of course not.
Jesse: Well, then I think this is the opportune time to tell you that I happen to be a fantastic swimmer.
Selene: Really?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: I'll make note of that.
Jesse: Okay. Uh..
Selene: So its my turn, no?
Jesse: Yes, yeah, it's your turn.
Selene: Uh, have you ever been in love?
Jesse: Yes. Next question. What was the fir--
Selene: Wait, wait.
Jesse: What?
Selene: Wait a minute.
Jesse: What?
Selene: So I can give one word answers?
Jesse: Sure, why not?
Selene: No, no. After I went into such private details about my first sexual feelings.
Jesse: Yeah, I, I know, but, sexual feel... Those are two very different questions. I mean, I could've answered the sexual feelings thing, no problem, but y'know, love. Well, what if I asked you about love?
Selene: I would have lied, but at least, you know, I would have made up a great story.
Jesse: [while Selene is finishing her line, above] Yeah, well, you would have lied. Great. I mean, love is a complex issue. Y'know, I mean, its like, uh. I mean, yes, I had told somebody that I love them before, and I had meant it. Was it totally a totally unselfish, giving love? Was it a beautiful thing? Not really, y'know. Its like love, I mean, uh, I don't know. Y'know?
Selene: Yeah, I know what you mean.
Jesse: But as far as sexual feelings go, I'll have you know it started with an obsessive relationship with Miss July 1978. Do you know Playboy magazine?
Selene: Oh, yeah, I've heard of it.
Jesse: Yeah? Do you know Crystal?
Selene: No.. [laughing]
Jesse: You don't know Crystal? Well, I knew Crystal. Well... [laughing] Is it, um... my turn now. okay. Tell me something that really pisses you off, really drives you crazy.
Selene: Pisses me off. My G-d. Everything pisses me off.
Jesse: Okay, okay, list a couple.
Selene: Uh, okay. I hate being told by a strange man, a strange man in the street, y'know, like, to smile, like, to make them feel better about their boring life, um, what else? I hate, I hate that 300 kms from here there's a war going on, y'know, people are dying, and nobody knows what to do about it, or they don't give a shit, I don't know. I hate that the medias, you know, they are trying to control our minds.
Jesse: The media?
Selene: Yeah, the media. You know its very subtle, but you know, its a new form of fascism. [Jesse takes that in]. Um, I hate, I hate when I am in foreign countries, especially in America, they are the worst. Each time I wear black, or like, lose my temper, or say anything about anything, they always go 'oh, its so french, its so cute.' [she mimics a puke] I hate that I can't stand that, really.
Jesse: Is that all?
Selene: Well, there's a lot of things, really. So its my turn.
Jesse: Okay.
Selene: You're going to answer
Jesse: Yes, I'll answer.
Selene: Ah, what's a problem for you?
Jesse: You, probably.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Um, No, Alright, I had a thought the other day that was kind of, a, qualifies as a problem.
Selene: What is it?
Jesse: Well, it was a thought I had on the train, so.... Um... okay, alright. Um, Do you believe in reincarnation?
Selene: Yeah, yeah, its interesting.
Jesse: Most people, you know, a lot of people talk about the past lives, and things like that, you know, and even if they don't believe in it in some specific way, you know, people have some kind of notion of an eternal soul, right.
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Okay. Well, this is my thought. 50,000 years ago, there are not even a million people on the planet. 10,000 years ago, there's like 2,000,000 people on the planet. Now, there's between 5 and 6 billion people on the planet, right? Now, if we all have our own, like, individual, unique soul, right, where do they all come from? Are modern souls only a fraction of the original souls? Because if they are, that represents a 5,000-to-1 split of each soul in just the last 50,000 years, which is like a blip in the earth's time. You know, so, at best, we're like these tiny fractions of people, you know, walking... I mean, is that why we're all so scattered? Y'know, Is that why we're all so specialized?
Selene: Wait a minute, I'm not sure I .. I don't....
Jesse: Hang on, I know, I know, its a totally scattered thought, which is kind of why it makes sense.
Selene: Yeah...[unsure, but laughing] I agree with you.
Jesse: Let's get off this damn tram.
[the two exit the tram].
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Scene 7
[in a record store, named "Alt & Neu", they are both looking through records, not CDs.]
Jesse: [walks up to Selene.] This place is pretty neat.
Selene: Yeah, there's even a listening booth over there. [finds an album, and shows it to Jesse.] Have you ever heard of this singer? [He shakes his head]. I think she's American. A friend of mine told me about her.
Jesse: [pointing to booth] Do you want to go see if that listening booth still works?
Selene: Yeah, okay.
[They go into listening booth, and put record on]
SONG LYRICS:
(#1) There's a wind that blows in from the north,
And it says that loving takes its course.
Come here. Come here.
No I'm not impossible to touch,
I have never wanted you so much.
Come here. Come here.
Have I never lay down by your side?
Baby, let's forget about this pride.
Come here. Come here. (#3)
Well, I'm in no hurry.
You don't have to run away this time.
I know that you're jimmied,
but it's gonna be all right this time.
[song fades] (#4).
[Note: The following happens during the song. Start points of each key section are marked by *# as in (#1) below is exactly at the point (#1) above]
[(#1) The two start the record, and sit close in the booth. Each looks at the other for a period of time, looking away when the other begins to look at them, again].
[(#2) They are walking along, outside the shop, admiring the architecture]
Jesse: Look at this. This is beautiful.
[They spot a tram, and run to it]
Selene: Quickly. Its leaving. [indicating the tram]
[(#3) They stand on the tram, passing small talk, then when the tram stops, they exit, and go into a park (#4)]
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Scene 8
[in park]
Selene: Oh, look, there's a rabbit.
Jesse: Yeah. Hey there, rabbit.
Selene: He's so cute. [sees a cemetery] I visited this as a young teenager. I think it left a bigger impression on me at that time than any of the museums we went to. [they go into the cemetery, and walk through].
Jesse: Yeah? Its tiny.
Selene: I know. There was this little old man that talked to us. He was the grounds keeper. He explained that most of the people are buried here that washed up on the bank of the Danube.
Jesse: How old are these?
Selene: Around the beginning of the century or so. It's called the cemetery of the no-name because they often didn't know who these people were. Maybe a first name, that's all.
Jesse: Why were all the bodies washing up?
Selene: I think some were from accidents, on boats and things like that, but most of them were suicides that jumped in the river. I always liked the idea of all those unknown people lost in the world. When I was a little girl, I thought that if none of your family or friends knew you were dead, then its like not really being dead. People can invent the best and the worst for you. [She sees a gravestone, and indicates it]. Ah, here she is, I think. Yeah, this is, this is the one I remember the most. [Name on gravestone is Elizabeth]. She was only 13 when she died. That meant something to me, you know, I was around that age when I first saw this. Hmm. Now, I'm 10 years older, and she's still, 13, I guess. That's funny. [they leave the cemetery].
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Scene 9
[in car on Ferris wheel. Probably the Prata, mentioned earlier, towards nightfall].
Selene: That's the Danube over there.
Jesse: That's the river, right?
Selene: [laughs] Yeah.
[Walking around in the Prata car, admiring the scenery, below]
Jesse: This is gorgeous.
Selene: Yeah, its very beautiful.
Jesse: We got, uh, we got a sunset here.
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: We got the Ferris wheel. It seems like, um, this would be a...
Selene: What?
Jesse: [sighs] Uh, you know, uh.
Selene: [putting her arms around him] Are you trying to say you want to kiss me?
Jesse: [Nods head. Mouths, emphatically 'yes']
Selene: [Also nods, and whispers] Yes. [they kiss, then stop and look at each other for a moment. Then, they kiss again.]
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Scene 10
[Still in amusement park, walking around, after dark. They get to a Strong-Man machine. Jesse puts in a coin, and a song starts. They dance a bit, until Jesse suddenly stops and elbows the machine hard. His ranking is 70, and is told to him in German. They continue walking...]
Selene: But you know what?
Jesse: What?
Selene: I don't think it really matters what generation you are born into. Look at my parents. They were these angry, young, May '68 people, revolting against everything. You know, the government, their conservative catholic backgrounds, I mean. I was born not long after, and then my father went on to become this successful architect, and they began to travel all around the world, where he built bridges, and towers, and stuff. I mean, I really can't complain about anything. You know, they love me more than anything in the world, and I have been raised with all the freedom they had fought for. And yet for me now, its another type of fight. We still have to deal with the same old shit, but we can't really know who, or y'know, what the enemy is.
Jesse: I don't really know if there is an enemy. You know, I mean, everybody's parents fuck them up. You know, rich kids' parents gave them too much, poor kids' not enough. Too much attention, not enough attention. They either left them, or y'know, they stuck around and taught 'em the wrong things. Y'know. I mean, my parents are just these two people who didn't like each other very much, who, uh, decided to get married and have a kid, and they try their best to be nice to me.
Selene: Did your parents divorce?
Jesse: Yeah. `Finally. They should have done it a lot sooner, but they stuck together for a while for the well-being of my sister and [starts with prim Boston type accent] I, thank you very much. [back to normal voice] I remember my mother once. She told me, right in front of my father, they were having this big fight, that he didn't really want to have me, y'know, that he was really pissed off when he found out that she was pregnant with me, y'know, that I was this big mistake. And I think that really shaped the way I think. I always saw the world as this place where I really wasn't meant to be.
Selene: That's so sad.
Jesse: No, I mean, I eventually kind of took pride in it. Y'know, like my life was my own doing, or something. Y'know, like I was crashing 'The Big Party.'
Selene: That's a way to see it. Y'know, my parents, they're still married, and I guess they're very happy, but I just think its an healthy process to rebel against everything that came before.
Jesse: Yeah. Yeah.
Selene: You know, I've been wondering lately. Do you know anyone who's in a happy relationship?
Jesse: Uh, yeah, sure. Y'know, I know happy couples. But I think they lie to each other.
Selene: Hmf. Yeah. People can lead their life as I lie. My grandmother, she was married to this man, and I always thought she had a very simple, uncomplicated love life. But she just confessed to me that she spent her whole life dreaming about another man she was always in love with. She just accepted her fate. It's so sad. And in the same time, I love the idea that she had all those emotions and feelings I never thought she would have had.
Jesse: I guarantee you, it was better that way. If she'd ever got to know him, y'know, I'm sure he would have disappointed her eventually.
Selene: How do you know? You don't know them.
Jesse: Yeah, I know, I know. It's just, people have these romantic projections they put on everything. Y'know. that's not based on any kind of reality.
Selene: Romantic projections?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: Oh, Mr. Romantic, up there in the Ferris Wheel ['cutsie voice'] Oh, kiss me, the sunset, oh, its so beautiful.
Jesse: Oh, alright, alright, alright. Tell me about your grandmother. What were you saying about her?
Selene: No, uh --
[they approach a carousel, and Jesse gets on, Selene stays off]
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Scene 11
[Sitting at a cafe. A pair of monks walk by, apparently in prayer].
Jesse: Hey... check these guys out. 'Hey Hans, I have a confession to make. I'm not wearing any underwear underneath this thing.' 'Oh really?' 'Does that frighten you?' [Pause, then Jesse and Selene turn to face one another] Can I tell you a secret?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Come here [brings mouth closer to her ear.]
Selene: What? [She brings her head a bit closer.]
Jesse: Come here [closer, then he turns, and kisses her on the lips.
[they pause, and hear some laughter, they look over at it. There is a gypsy, reading somebody's palm.]
Selene: Look at this palm-reader. She's interesting-looking, no?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: Uh-oh, uh-oh.
Jesse: What, what?
Selene: I just made eye contact.
Jesse: She's not coming over here.
Selene: Yes, she is.
Jesse: Oh, shit. Oh, no.
Selene: Oh my G-d. You want your palm read?
Jesse: No, no.
Selene: No? Are you sure?
Jesse: I'm sure.
Selene: Okay.
Jesse: Hello [mocking]
Selene: Here she is.
Gypsy: [in German] Would you like your hand read?
Selene: Uh, français, English?
Gypsy: [Takes Selene's hand, and touches it. ] Vant your palm read?
Selene: Yeah. How much is it.
Gypsy: For you, fifties. Okay?
Selene: Okay.
Gypsy: Oh, so, you have been on a journey, and you are stranger to this place. You, an adventure, you seek. An adventure in your mind. You are interested in the power of the woman, in a woman's deep strength, and creativity? You are becoming this woman. You need to resign yourself to the awkwardness of life. Only if you find peace within yourself, will you find true connection with others. [indicates, with her head, Jesse] That is a stranger to you?
Selene: I guess so.
Gypsy: [Takes Jesse's hand] Oh, you will be alright. He's learning. Okay [claps hands]. Money. [proffers hand, awaiting payment]
[Selene pays her, and Gypsy begins to walk away. With the money in her hands, Gypsy turns back to Jesse and Selene]
Gypsy: You are both stars, don't forget. And the stars exploded billions of years ago, to form everything that is this world. Everything we know, is stardust. So don't forget, you are stardust.
Jesse: [looks away with cynical expression] I mean, that's very nice and all, I mean, that, y'know, we're all stardust, and you're becoming this great woman, I mean, but I hope you don't take that any more seriously than some horoscope in a daily syndicated newspaper.
Selene: You, what are you talking about? I mean, she knew I was on vacation, and that we didn't know each other, and that [laughs]I was going to become this great woman.
Jesse: Aw c'mon. But what was that 'I am learning' bullshit? I mean, that's WAY condescending. Y'know. I mean, she wasn't even doing me. I mean, if opportunists like that, ever had to tell the real truth, it would put their asses out of business. Y'know. I mean, just once, I'd love to see, some little old lady, save up all her money, y'know, to go to the fortune teller, and she'd get there, all excited about hearing her future, and the woman would say [taking Selene's hand, mimicking a fortune teller, including the voice] UmHmm. Tomorrow, and all your remaining days will be exactly like today--A tedious collection of hours. And you will have no new passions, and no new thoughts, and no new travels, and when you die, you'll be completely forgotten. 50 shillings, please. Y'know, that, I'd like to see.
Selene: Its so funny how she almost didn't notice you, y'know. It's weird. I wonder why. She was, she was really wise, and intense, no? I really loved what she said, you know?
Jesse: Yeah, of course you do, y'know. You pay your money, you get to hear something that makes you feel good about yourself. If you want, maybe there's a seedy section of Vienna, we can go buy a hit of crack, y'know. Would you like that? Yeah?
Selene: You're so [makes gesture to give impressive of wacko]
Jesse: Stardust, Stardust.
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Scene 12
[Walking along the streets of Vienna]
[Jesse walks a bit behind Selene, and moves so that she trips over her foot]
Selene: Ow! Ridicule! [french for 'ridiculous'] [Sees poster] Ah, there's an exhibition. Yeah, I guess we'll miss it. Doesn't start until next week.
Jesse: Yeah, I think so.
Selene: [indicates art shown in poster. Poster is of exhibition of art work by Seurat.] I actually saw this one a few years ago in a museum. I stared, and stared at it. Must have been 45 minutes. I love it. La voie ferée. Ah. [points to another work on poster] I love the way the people seem to be dissolving into the background. [Indicates another] Look at this one. Its like the environments, y'know, are stronger than the people. His human figures are always so transitory. Its funny. Transitory?
Jesse: Yeah. Transitory.
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Scene 13
[Selene and Jesse approach a Viennese cathedral]
Jesse: Think this is open?
Selene: I don't know, let's try it.
[They enter, and Selene slowly walks down the aisle.]
Selene: [almost whispering] I was in an old church like this with my grandmother a few days ago in Budapest. Even though I reject most of the religious things, I can't help but feeling for all those people that come here lost or in pain, guilt, looking for some kind of answers. It fascinates me how a single place can join so much pain and happiness for so many generations
Jesse: You close with your grandmother?
Selene: Yeah. I think its because I always... I always have this strange feeling that I am this very old woman laying down about to die. You know, that my life is just her memories, or something.
Jesse: That's so wild. I mean, I always think that I'm still this 13 year old boy, y'know who just doesn't really know how to be an adult, pretending to live my life, taking notes for when I'll really have to do it. Kind of like I'm in a dress rehearsal for a Junior High play.
Selene: That's funny. Then, up there in the Ferris wheel, it was like this very old woman kissing this very young boy, right?
Jesse: Hmm. Do you know anything about the Quakers, the Quaker religion?
Selene: No, not much, no.
Jesse: Well, I went to this Quaker wedding once, and it was fantastic. What they do is the couple comes in and they kneel down in front of the whole congregation, and they just stare at each other, and nobody says a word unless they feel that G-d moves them to speak, or say something. And then after an hour or so, of just, uh, staring at each other, they're married.
Selene: That's beautiful. I like that.
[the two stare at each other for a few moments. Selene turns away, and a few moments later, so does Jesse.]
Jesse: This is a horrible story.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Its not the appropriate place to tell it, but...
Selene: What?
Jesse: Well, I was driving around with this buddy of mine, he was a big atheist, and we came to a stop, next to this homeless guy. And my buddy takes out a 100 dollar bill, and leans out the window, and he says, 'do you believe in G-d?' And the guy looks at, uh, he looks at my friend, and he looks at the money, he says, uh, 'Yes, I do.' My friend says, 'Wrong answer.' [motions as if putting money back in pocket], and we drove away.
Selene: That's mean, no?
Jesse: Yeah, uh, its, uh [they stop and look at one another]
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Scene 14
[Jesse and Selene, walking beside the Danube]
[Jesse takes a bite at Selene's hand]
Selene: Ow!
Jesse: Would you be in Paris by now, if uh, you hadn't gotten off the train with me?
Selene: [thinks] No not yet. What would you be doing?
Jesse: I'd probably be hanging around the airport, reading old magazines, crying in my coffee [mimics sad voice] cause you didn't come with me. [he kisses her hand a few times]
Selene: Awwww. Actually, I think I'd probably have gotten off the train in Salsburg with someone else.
Jesse: Oh, yeah? Oh, I see. So, I'm just that dumb American momentarily decorating your bland canvass.
Selene: I'm having a great time.
Jesse: Yeah?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Me too.
Selene: I'm so glad because no one knows I'm here, and I don't know anyone that knows you that would tell me all those bad things you've done.
Jesse: MmHmm?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: I'll tell you some.
Selene: Yeah, I'm sure.
Jesse: MmHmm.
Selene: You know, you hear so much shit about people. I always feel like the general of an army when I start dating a guy, y'know, plotting my strategy and manoeuverings, knowing his weak points, what would hurt him, seduce him. It's horrible. [they walk a bit] If we were around each other all the time, what do you think would be the first thing about me that would drive you mad?
Jesse: No, uh, no, no, I'm not gonna answer this question, no.
Selene: Why?
Jesse: I just, I dated this girl once who, who used to always ask me that question, 'What about me bugs you?' y'know. And so finally I said, well, y'know, I, uh, just don't think you handle criticism too well. She flew into a rage, and broke up with me, alright. That's a true story. All she ever really wanted to do was to have an excuse to tell me what she thought was wrong with me, y'know. Is that what you want?
Selene: What?
Jesse: Something about me bugs you?
Selene: No.
Jesse: It's alright. Tell me. What is it? What about me bugs you?
Selene: Nothing, nothing at all.
Jesse: Well, if it had to be something, what would it be?
Selene: If it had to be something, if I had to think about it, I... I kind of didn't really like this reaction back at the palm reader. You were like this rooster prick.
Jesse: Rooster prick?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: I was a rooster prick?
Selene: You were like a little boy whining because all the attention wasn't focused on him.
Jesse: Alright, listen, this woman robs you blind, okay?
Selene: You were like a little boy walking by an ice cream store, crying because his mother wouldn't buy him a milkshake or something.
[a voice comes from behind]
Jesse: I don't care what this woman has to say about anything.
Poet: Hello? [something in German]
Selene: What?
Poet: [Repeats phrase in German]
Selene: Oh, I understand a little bit, but he doesn't, I'm sorry.
Poet: Okay, uh, so, um, may I ask you a question?
Selene: Yeah.
Poet: So, I would like to make a deal with you. I mean, instead of just asking you for money, I will ask you for a word. Yeah, You give me a word, I take the word, and then, and then I will write a poem, with the word inside. And if you like it, I mean, if you like my poem, and you feel it adds something to your life in any way, then you can pay me whatever you feel like. I will write in English, of course.
Selene: Okay.
Jesse: Great, alright.
Poet: So? Pick a word.
[Jesse and Selene look at each other]
Jesse: Ummm...
Selene: A word, uh... milkshake.
Jesse: Milkshake? oh, good. Yeah, was gonna say rooster prick, but great. [turns to poet] Milkshake.
Poet: Milkshake? Okay, milkshake.
Jesse: Yeah, right, so we'll...
Selene: Good.
[poet begins to write]
Jesse: [quietly] What can I say? I like this Viennese variation of a bum.
Selene: I like what he said about adding something to your life, no?
Jesse: Yeah. So, uh, were we having our first fight back there?
Selene: No...
Jesse: Yeah, I think so, I think we were.
Selene: Well, even if we were a little bit, y'know. Why does everyone think conflict is so bad. There's a lot of good things coming out of conflict.
Jesse: Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. I don't know, y'know, I always think that if I could just accept the fact that my life was supposed to be difficult, y'know that's what's to be expected, then, I might not get so pissed off about it, and I'd just be glad when something nice happens.
Selene: Maybe that's why I'm still in school, y'know. Its easier to have something to fight against.
Jesse: Yeah, well, we've all had such competitiveness engrained in us...
[Poet finishes, and rips sheet from book]
Jesse: ...You know, I could be doing the most nothing thing, y'know, I could be, uh, throwing some darts, or shooting some pool, and all of a sudden, I feel it come over me, 'I have got to win'
Selene: Is that why you tried to get me off the train? Competitiveness?
[Poet approaches them]
Jesse: What do you mean?
Poet: Okay. [hands the sheet to them] Look at the poem.
Jesse: [takes poem] Oh, alright. [Opens it up]
Selene: [takes poem from Jesse, offers it back to Poet] Will you read it to us?
Poet: [Takes poem] Sure, okay. [Reads it]
Daydream delusion.
Limousine Eyelash
Oh, baby with your pretty face
Drop a tear in my wineglass
Look at those big eyes
See what you mean to me
Sweet cakes and milkshakes [laughs]
I am a delusioned angel
I am a fantasy parade.
I want you to know what I think.
Don't want you to guess anymore.
You have no idea where I came from.
We have no idea where we're going.
Launched in life.
Like branches in the river.
Flowing downstream.
Caught in the current.
I'll carry you. You'll carry me.
That's how it could be.
Don't you know me [poet hands poem back]
Don't you know me by now.
Selene: [taking poem] Great. Thanks.
Jesse: Thanks, man [they both reach for coinage to give to the Poet] Uh, Here you go, uh.
Poet: Thanks, thank you.
Selene: Here, thank you.
Poet: Thank you.
Jesse: Yeah, good luck, man.
Poet: Bye.
Jesse/Selene: Bye.
[Selene and Jesse walk away]
Selene: That's wonderful, no?
Jesse: Yeah, yeah.
Selene: What?
Jesse: You know he probably didn't just write that. I mean, you know he wrote it, but he probably just plugs that word in, y'know, whatever 'milkshake'...
Selene: What do you mean?
Jesse: Nothing, I love it, it was great.
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Scene 15
[Walking through a square in Vienna]
Jesse: You know what drives me crazy?
Selene: What?
Jesse: Its all these people talking about how great technology is, and how it saves all this time. But, what good is saved time, if nobody uses it? If it just turns into more busy work.
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Right, I mean, you never hear somebody say, "Well, y'know, with, uh, the time I've saved by using my word processor, I'm gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out." I mean, you never hear that.
Selene: Time is so abstract anyway. Were you looking at this girl?
Jesse: What? What?
Selene: Nothing.
Jesse: Do you want to go in here? [indicating a bar/club]
Selene: What?
Jesse: Do you want to go in here?
Selene: Yeah. Its a club, no?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: Wanna go?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: [to doorman] Àllo.
Doorman: [German equivalent of]50 shillings.
Selene: [to Jesse]50 shillings.
Jesse: [begins taking out money]50 shillings.
Selene: Each.
Jesse: I got a hundred. Here, I got it.
Selene: I'll buy you a beer. [to doorman] Thank you.
[They enter the club. Live German alternative music is playing by a single musician with an acoustic guitar. He finally stops, and says something to the audience.]
Jesse: You gonna buy me a beer?
Selene: Alright.
Jesse: You think Ole Milwaukee's a little expensive here?
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Scene 16
[still in club. Playing pinball. Selene is playing, and she loses her ball. Both are drinking beer.]
Selene: [hitting the machine] Merde!
Jesse: [taking over, and starting playing] Well, um, we haven't talked about this yet, but, are you dating anyone? You got a boyfriend waiting on you back in Paris, or anything like that?
Selene: No, not right now.
Jesse: not right -- but you did! [he loses ball, she takes over]
Selene: We broke up about six months ago.
Jesse: Six months ago.
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: I'm sorry. I mean, I'm not that sorry. But, uh, tell me about it.
Selene: Ah, no. No, no way, I can't. Its really, really boring.
Jesse: C'mon, tell me about it.
Selene: Okay. I was really disappointed. I thought this one would last for a while. I mean he was very stupid, ugly, bad in bed, alcoholic, y'know
Jesse: Real prize-winner.
Selene: Yeah. [laughs] I was kind of giving him a favour, but he left me, saying I loved him too much, and, y'know, I was blocking his artistic expression, or some shit like that, y'know. But anyway, I was traumatized, and became [she loses ball. She shrugs, they switch] and became totally obsessed with him. And so I went to see this shrink, y'know, and it came out that I had written this little stupid story about this woman, trying to kill her boyfriend, and how she was gonna do it, y'know, with all the intricate details, of, y'know, how to do it, and not get caught, and
Jesse: She was gonna kill her boyfriend? [loses ball. Switch]
Selene: Yeah. Yeah, she was. I mean, its nothing I would do, but it was just some writing, y'know.
Jesse: Alright, no, no, I understand.
Selene: But anyway, this stupid shrink believed everything I was telling her, and it was my first time seeing her. She said she had to call the police.
Jesse: She had to call the police?
Selene: [loses ball. Switch] Yeah. She was, merde! she was totally convinced I was really gonna do it. y'know, even though I'd explained to her it was just some writing, y'know. She said, looking deep into my eyes, "The way you said it, I know you are going to do it, the way you said it." She was totally out of her mind. It was my first and last session.
Jesse: Yeah, so what happened then?
Selene: I totally got over him, you know. But now I'm obsessed that he's gonna die from an accident, or, you know, 1000 kms away, I'm gonna be the one accused. Why do you become obsessed with people you don't really like that much, you know, I mean.
Jesse: I don't know.
Selene: So, how about you?
Jesse: What?
Selene: Are you with anyone?
Jesse: Umm, its funny how we managed to avoid this subject for so long, isn't it?
Selene: Yeah, but now you have to tell me.
Jesse: Well, I kind of see this all (****) as this, uh, escape for two people who don't know how to be alone, y'know, or, uh. I mean, y'know its funny. People always talk about how love is this totally unselfish, giving thing, but if you think about it, y'know, there's nothing more selfish.
Selene: Yeah, I know. So, she just broke up with you?
Jesse: What? [loses ball, switch]
Selene: You sound like you've just been hurt, or something.
Jesse: No.... do I?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Alright. Um, Big confession, y'know. I should have told you the earlier, or something, but, y'know... I didn't just come to Europe just to hang out, and read Hemingway in Paris, and shit like that, y'know. I saved up my money all spring to, uh, fly to Madrid, and spend the summer with my girlfriend, who has been on this --
Selene: Your girlfriend? [she loses ball. They switch]
Jesse: My EX-girlfriend, who has been on this asinine art history program for the last year. Anyway, I got here, right, and now we're re-united, at long last, and we went out to dinner, our first night, ah, with six of her friends. Pedro, Antonio, Gonzalo, Maria, Suzie, from home, y'know. She pretty much managed to avoid being alone with me for the first couple of days we were there, and I stuck around for a while, just to kind of let it really sink in that she wished I hadn't come. So I bought the cheapest flight out of Europe, this one leaving out of Vienna tomorrow, but it didn't leave for a couple of weeks. So, I bought this Eurail pass, y'know. Y'know--y'know what's the worst thing about somebody breaking up with you? Its when you remember how little you thought about the people you broke up with, and you realize that that is how little they're thinking about you, y'know. [loses ball]. Y'know, you'd like to think that you're both in all this pain, but really, they're just, Hey, I'm glad you're gone. [They switch]
Selene: I know. You should look at bright colours.
Jesse: What?
Selene: That's what the shrink told me, y'know. I was paying her 900 francs an hour, to hear that I was a homicidal maniac, and that I could eliminate (****) my obsession if I would concentrate on bright colours.
Jesse: Yeah, well did it work?
Selene: Well, [loses ball, switch]
Jesse: Didn't help your pinball, did it?
Selene: No. Yeah, well, you know. I haven't... I haven't killed anyone lately.
Jesse: Not lately? Well, that's good, you're cured, then.
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Scene 17
[walking outside in Vienna]
Jesse: I mean, there's these breeds of monkeys, right, and all they do is have sex, like, all the time, y'know. And, uh, they turn out to be, like, the least violent, the most peaceful, the most happy, y'know, so I mean, maybe fooling around is not so bad.
Selene: Are you talking about monkeys?
Jesse: Yes. I'm talking about monkeys.
Selene: Ah, I thought so, yeah.
Jesse: Why?
Selene: You know, I never heard this one, but it reminds me of, like, this perfect, y'know, male argument to justify them fooling around.
Jesse: No, no, no. Woman monkeys are fooling around, too. Everybody's fooling around.
Selene: Yeah, that's cute. [they laugh] You know, I have this awful paranoid thought, that feminism was mostly invented by men, so they could, like, fool around a little more. You know, women, free your minds, free your bodies, sleep with me. We're all happy and free as long as I can fuck as much as I want.
Jesse: Alright, alright, alright. But maybe, maybe there's some biological things at work here. I mean, if you had an island, right, and there were 99 women on the island, and only one man, in a year, you'd have the possibility of 99 babies. But if you have an island with 99 men, and only one woman, in a year, you'd have the possibility of only one baby. So...
Selene: So. You know what?
Jesse: What?
Selene: On this island, y'know, I think that there will only be, like, maybe 43 men left. Because they would kill each other, trying to fuck this poor woman, you know what I mean? And on the other island, there would be 99 women, 99 babies, and no more man, because they would have all gotten together, and eaten him alive.
Jesse: Oh yeah?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Yeah? Yeah? See... see, I think there's something to that. I think on some level, women don't mind the idea of destroying a man, y'know. Like, I was once walking down the street with my ex-girlfriend, y'know, right, and we just walked by these, like, real four, kind of thuggy looking guys, next to a Camaro, y'know, and one of 'em, sure enough, says, 'Hey baby, nice ass.' Y'know, I mean. So, I'm like, alright, Hey, no big deal, I'm not gonna get uptight about this, right?
Selene: Yeah, plus, there were four of them, right?
Jesse: Yeah, exactly, there's four of them, right, but she turns around and she says [Jesse turns back, and flips the bird to the air behind him] Fuck you, dickheads, and I'm like, Okay, wait a minute, here, right. They're not gonna come over here and kick her ass, y'know what I mean. So who just got pushed to the front line on that one? You see what I'm saying? I mean, women say they hate it if your all territorial and protective, but if it suits them, then they'll tell you you're being all unmanly, or wimpy, or, uh.
Selene: You know what? I don't think women really want to destroy men, and if, even if they want to, they don't.. they don't succeed. You know what I mean? I'm sure even, y'know, men are destroying women, or are able... capable of destroying women, much more than women... Well, anyway, its depressing, I mean y'know what?
Jesse: What? You want to stop talking about this?
Selene: Yeah. I really hate it. You know Men-Women you know, its, its... there's no end to this, like, y'know...
Jesse: Its like a skipping record, y'know
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Every couple's been having this conversation forever.
Selene: Any nobody's come up with anything.
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Scene 18
[Still on streets of Vienna. Belly dancer is dancing to drum beat, on the side of the street.]
[Jesse and Selene approach, then Selene pulls Jesse closer to watch]
Selene: I saw a documentary on that. It's a birth dance.
Jesse: A birth dance.
Selene: Yeah.
[they stop and watch for a little while, until its over. They clap]
Jesse: Should I give her some money?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Everything that's interesting costs a little bit of money. I'm telling you.
[He puts some coinage in the pot, and they begin to walk away.]]
Jesse: So, birth dance, huh? Looked a little bit like a mating dance to me.
Selene: No, but really. Women used this when giving birth. In some parts of the world, they still do it.
Jesse: Yeah?
Selene: Yeah. The woman in labour enters a tent, and the women of her tribe surround her, and dance, and they encourage the birthing woman to dance with them as... so as to make the birth less painful.
Jesse: Yeah...
Selene: When the baby is born, they all dance in celebration.
Jesse: Wow. I don't think my mom would've gone for that.
Selene: I like the idea of dancing as a common function in life, something everybody participates in.
Jesse: Yeah, I know. I heard about this old guy, who was watching some young people dance. And he said, how beautiful. They're trying to shake off their genitals, and become angels.
Selene: I like that [smiles]
Jesse: Alright. One question, though, back there. When the women are dancing, and being all spiritual, and stuff, right? Where are the men? Are we out food-gathering? Are we not invited? Y'all don't need us? What?
Selene: Men are lucky we don't bite off their head after mating. Certain insects do that, you know, like spiders, and stuff.
Jesse: MmHmm.
Selene: We, at least, let you live. What are you complaining about?
Jesse: Yes. See, you're officially kidding, but there's something to that, you know. You keep bringing stuff like that up.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: No, no, no, wait a minute. Talking seriously here. I mean, .. I, I always feel this pressure of being a strong and independent icon of womanhood, and without making... making it look my... my whole life is revolving around some guy. But Loving someone, and being loved means so much to me. We always make fun of it and stuff. But isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?
Jesse: Hmmm. Yeah, I don't know [they sit on a pile of skids in an alley they are walking through]. Sometimes I dream about being a good father and a good husband, and sometimes that feels really close.
Selene: Hmm.
Jesse: But then, other times, it seems silly. Like, it would, uh, ruin my whole life. And its not just a, uh, a fear of commitment, or that I'm incapable of caring, or loving, because I can. It's just that if I'm totally honest with myself, I think I'd rather die knowing that I was really good at something, that I had excelled in some way, y'know, then that I had just been in a nice, caring relationship.
Selene: Yeah, but I had worked for this older man, and once he told me that he had spent all of his life thinking about his career and his work, and... he was 52 and it suddenly struck him that he had never really given anything of himself. His life was for no one, and nothing. He was almost crying saying that. Y'know, I believe if there's any kind of G-d, it wouldn't be in any of us. Not you, or me... but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world, it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something [sigh]. I know, its almost impossible to succeed, but... who cares, really? The answer must be in the attempt.
[They both stare for a while, and then half-sigh, half-laugh].
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Scene 19
[in a cafe. Fairly busy, many people]
[Scene: MaîŒtre d' arranging roses in a vase.]
[Scene: Group of 3 men and 3 women, having a political/philosophical type discussion in German]
[Scene: Two men, playing cards, talking about work, or friends -- common, heartfelt discussion]
[Scene: Two older men, both with beards. One is speaking very slowly, deliberately, in German. The other is simply listening.]
[Scene: Woman sitting alone, reading a book, a finished coffee by her side.]
[Scene: A man and woman, obviously having been together for a long time. He is fidgety, she is playing with her pie with a fork, bored.]
Man: I really think this is a civilization in decline. Look at the service. I mean, where is the waitress? In New York, this person would be out of a job. [looks around for the waitress].
[Scene: Two men and a woman, all roughly middle-aged, talking, joking, in reasonably good spirits.]
[Scene: Selene and Jesse sitting at a table, with platters from coffee on the table in front of them, finished.]
Selene: Okay, now I'm going to call my best friend in Paris, who I'm supposed to have lunch with in 8 hours. Okay?
Jesse: [Nods] okay.
Selene: [with her hands mimicking a telephone, lifting it off the base, and putting it to her ear.] Dring-Dring. Dring-Dring. Dring-Dring. Pick up!
Jesse: What?
Selene: Pick up the phone.
Jesse: [also mimics a phone with his hand, puts it up to his ear] Oh, hello?
Selene: Àllo?
Jesse: MmHmm.
Selene: Vanie? Ici Lina.
Jesse: Ahh...
Selene: Comment ça-va?
Jesse: [wide open eyes, then recognition] Ah, bien, et toi?
Selene: Vanie, ma vacation est incroyable!
Jesse: Ahhh... y' - a- I- y'know, I've been working on my English, recently, w- y'want to talk in English?
Selene: Yeah, okay, that's a good idea. Ummm... I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it for lunch today, I'm sorry. I... I met a guy on the train, and I got off with him in Vienna. We're still there.
Jesse: Are you crazy? [playing the role]
Selene: Probably.
Jesse: We.. wa.. he's Austrian, he's from there?
Selene: N-n-n-n-no. He's passing through here too. He's American. He's going back home tomorrow morning.
Jesse: [mocking a shocked expression] Why'd you get off the train with him?
Selene: Well... he convinced me. Well, actually I was [smiles] I was ready to get off the train with him after talking to him a short while. He was so sweet, I couldn't help it. [softly] We were in the lounge car, and he began to talk about him, as a little boy, seeing his great-grandmother's ghost. I think that's when I fell for him. Just the idea of this little boy with all those beautiful dreams. [emphatically] He trapped me.
Jesse: MmHmm [emphatically].
Selene: And he's so cute! He has beautiful blue eyes, [he closes his eyes] nice big lips, [back-pouts his mouth], greasy hair, [she laughs] I love it. He's kind of tall, and a little clumsy. [softly] I like to feel his eyes on me when I look away. [smiling] He ki
nd of kisses like an adolescent, its so cute.
Jesse: What?
Selene: Yeah, we kissed. It was so adorable. As the night went on, I began to like him more and more. But I'm afraid he's scared of me. Y'know, I told him the story about the woman that kills her ex-boyfriend, and stuff. He must be scared to death. [Jesse begins to shake his head, slowly] He must be thinking I'm this manipulative, mean woman. I just hope he doesn't feel that way about me, because you know me, I'm the most harmless person. The only person I could really hurt is myself.
Jesse: I don't think he's scared of you. I think he's crazy about you.
Selene: Really?
Jesse: I mean, I've known you a long time, and I got a good feeling. You gonna see him again?
Selene: We haven't talked about that yet. [pause -- hangs up 'phone'] Okay its your turn. You call your friend.
Jesse: Uh...
Selene: Okay?
Jesse: [Hangs up phone, too] Alright, alright. Umm... [thinks] Uh, [picks up 'phone', puts to ear.] Bring-Bring-Bring. Uh, I usually get this guys answering machine. Brawwwwwwng.
Selene: [picks up 'phone', mimics American accent] Hi dude, what's up?
Jesse: Uhhhh... Hey Frank, how you been? Glad you're home.
Selene: Cool. Yeah. So, how was Madrid?
Jesse: Uh, Madrid... sucked! Y'know, Lisa and I had our long-overdue meltdown.
Selene: Oh. Too bad. I told you, no?
Jesse: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The long-distance thing just never works. I was only in Madrid for a couple of days. I got a cheaper flight, out of Vienna... but, uh, y'know, it really wasn't that much cheaper. I just, uh... I couldn't go home right away. I didn't want to see anybody I knew, I just wanted to be a ghost. Completely anonymous.
Selene: So are you okay, now?
Jesse: Yeah. Yeah, no, no, yeah, I'm great, I'm great! That's the thing, I'm... I'm rapturous. And I'll tell you why. I met somebody. On my last night in Europe, can you believe that?
Selene: Ah, That's incredible.
Jesse: I know, I know. And you know how they say we're all each others' demons and angels? Well, she was literally a Botaccelli angel. Just telling me that everything was gonna be okay.
Selene: How did you meet?
Jesse: On the train. Yeah, she was sitting next to this very weird couple who started fighting so she had to move. She sat right across the aisle from me. So, we started to talk, and, uh, she didn't like me much at first. She's super smart, very passionate, um... and beautiful. And I was so unsure of myself. I thought everything I said sounded so stupid.
Selene: Oh, man, I wouldn't worry about that.
Jesse: No...
Selene: No, I'm sure she was not judging you. No... And by the way, she sat next to you, no? I'm sure she did it on purpose.
Jesse: Oh, Yeah?
Selene: Yeah. Us men are so stupid. We don't understand anything about women.
Jesse: MmMmm [ie, no]
Selene: They act kind of strange. The little I know of them. Don't they?
Jesse: Yeah.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 20
[on a balcony, overlooking a lower part of the city. Jesse is sitting on the stone rail, Selene is leaning against it]
Jesse: I feel like this is, uh, some dream world we're in, y'know.
Selene: Yeah, it's so weird. Its like our time together is just ours. Its our own creation. It must be like I'm in your dream, and you in mine, or something.
Jesse: And what's so cool is that this whole evening, all our time together, shouldn't officially be happening.
Selene: Yeah, I know. Maybe that's why this feels so otherworldly. But then the morning comes, and we turn into pumpkins, right?
Jesse: Ahhh...
Selene: Yeah, I know. [pause] But at this time, I think you're supposed to produce the glass slipper, and see if it fits.
Jesse: Yeah?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: It'll fit.
[He leans over. They kiss, then stare out at the city]
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Scene 21
[On an anchored ship-turned-restaurant, sitting at an elegant table, with a floating candle.]
Jesse: This friend of mine had a kid, and it was a home birth, so he was there helping out and everything. And he said at that profound moment of birth, uh, he was watching this child, experiencing life for the first time, I mean, trying to take its first breath... all he could think about was that he was looking at something that was gonna die someday. He just couldn't get it out of his head. And I think that's so true, I mean, all-- everything is so finite. I mean, but, but don't you think that that's what, um, makes our time, at specific moments, so important?
Selene: Yeah, I know. It's the same for us, tonight, though. After tomorrow morning, we're probably never going to see each other again, right?
Jesse: You don't think we'll ever see each other again?
Selene: What do you think?
Jesse: Well, um, gosh, I don't know. uh, I mean, I hadn't planned another trip to...
Selene: Oh, Me too, y'know. I live in Paris, you live in the US. I totally understand that...
Jesse: I mean, I'd hate to make you fly. You know, you hate to fly, right?
Selene: I'm not so scared of flying. I mean I could...
Jesse: I mean, if you were gonna come to the US, or if, y'know, I mean, if I, or y'know, I mean, I could come back here, I mean... What?
Selene: Now let's just be rational adults about this. We, maybe we should try something different. I mean, its no so bad if tonight is our only night, right? People always exchange phone numbers, addresses, they end up writing once, calling each other once or twice...
Jesse: Right. Fizzles out. Yeah, I mean, I don't want that. I hate that.
Selene: I hate that too, y'know.
Jesse: Why do you think everybody thinks relationships are supposed to last forever?
Selene: Yeah, why. It's stupid.
Jesse: So, you think tonight's it, huh? I mean, that, tonight's our only night.
Selene: Its the only way, no?
Jesse: Well, alright. Let's do it. No delusions, no projections. We'll just make tonight great.
Selene: Okay, let's do that.
Jesse: Okay.
[He points to a pair of musicians, playing on the boat, then looks back at her]
Jesse: We should do some kind of handshake, you know. Give me your hand. [they clasp each other's hands, so that all four are clasped together] Alright. To our one and only night together, and the hours that remain. [He kisses her hand, and she looks sad] What?
Selene: Its just... its depressing, no? That the... the only thing we're gonna think of is when we're gonna have to say goodbye tomorrow.
Jesse: Well, we could say goodbye now. Then we wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning.
Selene: Now?
Jesse: Yeah. Say goodbye.
Selene: Bye.
Jesse: Goodbye.
Selene: [softly] you have a... [with more emphasis] Au revoir.
Jesse: later.
Selene: Later, yeah.
[they stop and stare at each other for a while]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 22
[walking down some stairs into a bar]
Jesse: Alright, so here's the plan, right. You're gonna grab the glasses, and I'm gonna get the wine.
Selene: Red wine.
Jesse: Red wine. right.
Selene: You think you can do that?
Jesse: Nooooo problem.
[they get into the bar, Selene goes over to a table, and Jesse goes up to the bar]
Jesse: [whispers] wish me luck.
Selene: [whispers] okay good luck.
Jesse: [to bartender]Hello.
Bartender: Hello.
Jesse: [as Selene goes over to a table and opens her purse] Uh... Do you speak English?
Bartender: Euh, a bit.
Jesse: Yeah, a bit? Well, alright. I'm having kind of an odd situation here, which is that... Uh, this is... you see that girl over there? [Indicates Selene as she is putting glasses in purse, she stops, and smiles.]
Bartender: Yeah...
Jesse: Yeah, well, this is our only night together. Um, And she, ahh, ALright. Here's the problem. The problem is that she wants a bottle of red wine, and I don't have any money. [Jesse and the bartender start laughing]. I was thinking that you might want to, um, give me the address of this bar [bartender backs away] No, I know...and I would promise to send you the money, and you would make our night complete.
Bartender: You would send me the money?
Jesse: Yes.
Bartender: [looks over at Selene, then back at Jesse. Offers hand] Your hand? [They shake] Okay. [leaves]
[Selene steals 2nd glass, Jesse gives her an A-ok gesture]
Bartender: [returns with bottle, looks at it, and gives it to Jesse] For the greatest night in your life. [laugh]
Jesse: Thank you very much. [walks away]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 23
[in park, lying down, in the dark, drinking wine]
Selene: So often in my life I've been with people, and shared beautiful moments like travelling, or staying up all night and watching the sunrise, and I knew those were special moments. But something was always wrong. I wished I'd been with someone else. [They both laugh] I knew that what I was feeling, exactly what was so important to me, they didn't understand. But I'm happy to be with you. You couldn't possibly know why a night like this is so important to my life right now, but it is. This is a great morning.
Jesse: It is a great morning. Do you think we'd have others like this. [Selene smiles] What?
Selene: What about our rational, adult decision?
Jesse: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean about wishing somebody wasn't there, though. Its just usually its myself that I wish I could get away from. Seriously, think about this. I have never been anywhere that I haven't been. I've never had a kiss when I wasn't one of the kissers. Y'know, I've never, um, gone to the movies, when I wasn't there in the audience. I've never been out bowling, if I wasn't there, y'know making some stupid joke. I think that's why so many people hate themselves. Seriously, its just they are sick to death of being around themselves. Lets say that you and I were together all the time, then you'd start to hate a lot of my mannerisms. The way, uh, the way every time we would have people over, uh, I'd be insecure, and I'd get a little too drunk. Or, uh, the way I'd tell the same stupid pseudo-intellectual story again, and again. Y'see, I've heard all those stories. So of course I'm sick of myself. But being with you, uh, its made me feel like I'm somebody else. Y'know the only other way to lose yourself like that is, um, y'know, dancing, or alcohol, or drugs, and stuff like that.
Selene: Fucking?
Jesse: Fuh... Fucking? Yeah, that's one way, yeah. [swallows breath, turns away]
Selene: [Turning towards Jesse] Do you know what I want?
Jesse: What?
Selene: To be kissed.
Jesse: Well, I can do that. [they kiss, he starts to go down her neck.]
Selene: Wait! [she stops him, and sits up] I have to say something stupid.
Jesse: Alright.
Selene: Its very stupid.
Jesse: Okay.
Selene: I don't think we should sleep together. I mean, I want to, but since we're never gonna see each other again... it'll make me feel bad. I won't know who else you're with. I'll miss you. [she lies down beside him] I know. It's not very adult. Maybe its a female thing, I can't help it.
Jesse: Let's see each other again.
Selene: No, I don't want you to break our vow, just os you can get laid. [they laugh]
Jesse: I don't want to just get laid. I want to um, I mean, I mean, I think we should. I mean, we'll be done in the morning, right? I think we should.
Selene: No, then its like some male fantasy. Meet a french girl on a train, fuck her, and never see her again. That would be this great story to tell, I don't want to be a great story. I dont want this great evening to just have been for that.
Jesse: Alright. Alright, alright, alright. Okay.
Selene: Okay?
Jesse: Okay. We don't have to have sex. It's not a big deal.
Selene: Okay. [long pause] You don't want to see me again?
Jesse: [laughs] No, of course I do. Listen, if somebody gave me the choice right now, of to never see you again or to marry you, alright, I would marry you, alright. And maybe that's a lot of romantic bullshit, but people have gotten married for a lot less.
Selene: Actually, I think I had decided I wanted to sleep with you when we got off the train. But now that we've talked so much, I don't know anymore.
[Jesse sighs of frustration. Selene laughs, then leans over to kiss him.]
Selene: Why do I make everything so complicated?
Jesse: I don't know.
[They kiss again]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 24
[In park... sun is up, birds are chirping. Scene cuts to city, where Jesse and Selene are walking along a street. Harpsicord music plays in the background.]
Jesse: What do you think's the first thing you're gonna do when you get back to Paris?
Selene: Call my parents.
Jesse: Yeah?
Selene: What about you?
Jesse: I don't know... I'll probably go pick up my dog. He's staying with a friend of mine.
Selene: You have a dog?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: I love dogs.
Jesse: You do?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Oh shit.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Oh, I don't know. We're back in real time.
Selene: I know. I hate that.
Jesse: What is that? [notices sound, and walks towards it]
Selene: Sounds like a harpsicord.
Jesse: Check that out [looks into basement window, where there is a man playing a harpsicord] [whispers] Cool.
[Jesse pulls Selene to the side of the window]
Jesse: We'll dance to the harpsicord.
Selene: Of course. [they dance a bit]
Jesse: [looking at her. He stops her dancing] Oh, wow.
Selene: What?
Jesse: Uh.... I'm gonna take your picture. [puts her at arms length, and stares] So I never forget you or, uh, or all this.
Selene: Okay. Me too.
[She stops and stares at him too. He leans over and they kiss. Eventually, they stop, and walk away holding hands.]
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Scene 25
[Camera shows various views of the landmarks of Vienna, stopping at a statue in a square, upon which Jesse sits while Selene lies with her head on his lap]
Jesse: [in a sort-of Bostonian accent, again] And the years shall run like rabbits
Selene: [opens her eyes and looks up at him] What?
Jesse: [shakes his head] Nothing. Nothing. I have this, uh, recording of Dylan Thomas, reading a W.H.Auden poem. He's got a great voice. You just... It's like, uh...
Selene: What, what?
Jesse: [starts with accent again]
All the clocks in the city
Began to whir, and chime.
Oh, let not time deceive you,
You can not conquer time.
In headaches and in worry,
Vaguely life leaks away.
And time will have its fancy,
Tomorrow, or today.
[back to regular voice] Hm. Something like that.
Selene: Its good. [pause] When you talked earlier about after a few years, how a couple begin to hate each other, by anticipating their reactions, or getting tired of their mannerisms. I think it would be the opposite for me. I think I could really fall in love when I know everything about someone. The way he's gonna part his hair. Which shirt he's gonna wear that day. Knowing the exact story he'd tell in a given situation. I'm sure that's when I'd know I'm really in love. [they stop and stare for a while.]
Jesse: Hey guess what?
Selene: What?
Jesse: We didn't go to those guys' play.
Selene: Play?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: The cow?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: [laughs] Yeah, we didn't. Oh no, we missed it. [sigh]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scene 26
[in train station. Jesse and Selene walk side by side, together holding her bag between them. Voice over loudspeaker makes inaudible announcement]
Selene: Okay, you know what bus you're taking to the airport?
Jesse: Yeah, yeah. No problem.
Selene: I should get on this one [pointing to a coach. They stop]
Jesse: Right here? You want to get on there?
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Alright. Um...
Selene: Okay. I guess this is it, no? [they hold hands]
Jesse: [breathing heavy, like after workout or from anxiety] Yeah. Um, I really, [a couple of deep breaths] I, uh, I... I mean, you know what I mean.
Selene: Yeah, I know what -- I, uh. Yeha, My... Have a great life. Have fun with everything you're gonna do. Work hard...
Jesse: Yeah. Good luck in school, and all that.
Selene: Okay.
Jesse: I hate this.
Selene: Me too. My train is about to leave.
Jesse: Yeah.
[they kiss, hug. They stop, and from this point on their voices are rushed]
Jesse: Listen. Listen. You know all this bullshit we're talking about, about not seeing each other again? I don't want to do that.
Selene: I don't want to do that either.
Jesse: You don't either?
Selene: I was waiting for you to say something.
Jesse: Well, why didn't you say something?
Selene: I was afraid maybe you didn't want to see me.
Jesse: Alright, alright, well look. Listen, listen. What-d... what-d... What do you want to do?
Selene: Maybe... maybe we should meet here, in five years or something.
Jesse: Alright, alright. Five years. Five years? That's a long time.
Selene: Yes. Its awful. Its like a sociological experiment. How about one year?
Jesse: One year. Alright, alright.
Selene: One year.
Jesse: How about six months?
Selene: Six months?
Jesse: Yeah.
Selene: Its gonna be freezing. [she starts laughing]
Jesse: Yeah? [He starts laughing]
Selene: Yeah.
Jesse: Who cares? We come here, we go somewhere else.
Selene: Okay. Okay. Uh, six months from now, or last night?
Jesse: Um... Last night. Six months from last night, which was, uh, uh, June 16th. So uh, Track Nine, six months from now, at six o'clock at night.
Selene: Dece-- December.
Jesse: December, yeah, right. Now listen, its a train ride for you, but I got to fly all the way over here and shit like that, alright, but I'm going to be here.
Selene: Okay, me too.
Jesse: Alright.
Selene: And we're not gonna call or write or...
Jesse: Na...
Selene: Na.
Jesse: Its depressing.
Selene: Yeah, okay.
Jesse: Alright. [they kiss] Alright, your train's gonna leave. Say goodbye.
Selene: Bye.
Jesse: Goodbye.
Selene: Au revoir.
Jesse: Later.
[They kiss again, and he helps her onto the train. The whistle blows, and the train leaves]
[Scene: Selene walking to booth. Sits down in seat, looks out window]
[Scene: Jesse, going down escalator.]
[Scene: Train, pulling away from under bridge from Scene 5, no one is on bridge.]
[Scene: Boat, from scene 21. Distant view. The boat is empty.]
[Scene: The table they sat at on boat in Scene 21-- empty]
[Scene: Balcony overlooking lower city, from scene 20. Empty]
[Scene: Pile of skids in alley, from late in Scene 18 - No one is around.]
[Scene: The Cemetary from Scene 8. Not a living soul.]
[Scene: The marker from the grave of Elizabeth, from Scene 8. Nothing has changed.]
[Scene: The Prata, unmoving, with nobody around.]
[Scene: The square through which the monks walked in Scene 11. An elder gentleman walks through, oblivious to what's around him]
[Scene: Beside the Danube, where Selene and Jesse met the Poet, from Scene 14. Void of people. A train passes over a bridge in the distance]
[Scene: The park, especially reminiscient of Scene 23. A bottle seems to be lying on the ground. An old lady slowly walks through the park]
[Scene: Jesse, in a bus, looking out a window. Turns back to the front of the bus, and makes a gesture to the effect of 'woo!' Looks around the bus, puts his head back, closes his eyes, and smiles]
[Scene: Selene, in train, looking out window, thinking. Eventually, she, too, smiles, remembering something, then lies her head against the wall, and closes her eyes, as if to sleep.]
THE END
