| Cyrill Gelblat | The winner at Nisimasa in Surgeres: |
|
Bed and Breakfast
|
All The Dialogues Written In Bold Are Said In Czech And Subtitled In French
BLACK SCREEN THEN TITLES The sound of a train, deafening and hardly recognizable, like an echo.
We still hear that railroad sound. We see a luggage rack where passengers put their small belongings. Inside are a pack of cigarettes and a tourist guide of Paris written in Czech. The light goes down then up again, as an eye blink. CUT In the darkness we can see the eyes of Lenka. They are open, she cannot find sleep. She rises in her couchette and puts the blanket away. She's a good looking 25 year-old Czech girl, Slav looks. She takes away her ear-plugs, and the deafening railroad sound becomes more recognizable. Lenka opens the cabin door. Petr, a 25 year-old Czech is in the corridor. He is dressed and looking at the landscape browsing through the window. Lenka caresses his back. Petr (without turning): Here we are, in France. The day begins to rise. A couple of French tourists are waking up. The woman gets off her couch down the ladder. Petr, who is putting his shoes on, lets her pass by. We see on the floor two painting canvases wrapped in a bag. The canvases make the woman's way difficult. A ticket controller opens the door violently. Ticket controller (taking out his fine book): Good Morning, ticket control please. The woman climbs up the ladder to reach her tickets. Lenka (in French withy a strong accent) We don't have the ticket. Ticket controller: Do you have money ? CUT The controller writes down on the fine the details of Petr and Lenka's passports. The French couple looks at them suspiciously. The controller hands them the fine then leaves. Petr and Lenka look at each other, fine in hand, and laugh. In a French brasserie, a waiter puts on his tray two croissants, two glasses of orange juice and the barman adds two coffees. The waiter walks towards Petr and Lenka's table and puts everything on it. Lenka is reading the tourist guide to Petr (the canvases are in front of the table) Lenka: In the Louvre Museum, after room 30, go forward and reach for the floor opposite to the one where the Victory is standing. You are then at the entry of the Red Rooms. In the Mollien room, see "Le Radeau De La Méduse", by Géricault, a macabre illustration of a tragic true story. In the same room, see the monumental "Mort de Sardanapale" by Delacroix, full of violence and sensuality. If you walk back you will find on your left an access to the States Room where you shall not miss the first miracle of Jesus Christ : "Les Noces de Cana" by Veronese. Near after you'll discover Leonardo di Vinci's masterpiece, the famous... Petr: ...and blah blah blah, and blah blah blah, it's insane, it's like they're giving us orders. Lenka, interrupted in her reading, shuts the book and looks at Petr. Lenka: Did you make up your mind which painting you are going to make ? Petr: Not really, yet. I'm waiting to see them to decide. There are so many. It would take more than just two days. Petr takes his painting notebook out of his canvas bag. There are already a lot of sketches of paintings. He takes out two photographs of paintings ("Interior of a workshop" by Octave Tassaert and "The beggars" by Pieter Bruegel) Petr: I think it has to be one of these two. Look at this one. It's called "The beggars", it is only 20 centimetre large, so no one pays attention to it. I'd like to paint it big. Look... the handicaps of manhood, the bishop behind, leaving... The waiter brings the bill. Lenka looks at it, stunned. She hands it to Petr. Petr: How much is that, 17 Euros? Lenka: Around 400 Crowns. Petr: Are they crazy or what? Call him. Lenka waves to the waiter, who arrives. Lenka: Sir, Please, is there a mistake? The waiter takes the bill and looks at it. Waiter (speaking "rough" French on purpose): This, expresso, 2 Euros 50, this, croissant, 2 Euros 50, and orange juice, 3 Euros, twice it's 17 Euros. Ok? Good for you? Lenka: Ok thank you. The waiter leaves. Petr and Lenka look at eachother. Petr: How much have we left? Lenka hands out the bills and coins from her wallets and counts them. Lenka: 50 Euros. She looks in the tourist guide. Lenka: The Youth Hostel is 15 Euros each and the Louvre is... 5 Euros. Petr: So this (he points at the breakfast), this is the same price as a night at the hostel! I can't believe it! What's wrong with this country! (silence). But we are so fucking stupid, we could have looked at the prices before. Lenka: If we go back to Prague tomorrow night as we planned, if we want to have enough money, either we sleep outside... Petr: No, we're not going to sleep outside. Lenka: Either we don't eat, or we don't go to the Louvre. Lenka looks back around her. Lenka: Come on, let's run. Lenka: Forget it, we are caught already. We see the waiter talking to the barman and looking at them suspiciously. Petr and Lenka pass by the Louvre. Petr is carrying his canvases across his shoulder. CUT They both wander around the "esplanade". We see them passing by groups of tourists on guided tour, then groups of pupils. We see the tourists taking pictures of one another in front of the fountains. Petr and Lenka cross the crowd and sit on the edge of the fountain. Lenka : Go there without me. You came here to draw one of those paintings, we're here for you, so if you don't do it, it's useless. Petr : And what are you going to do ? Lenka : I'm going to stroll around... in the beautiful street we saw, behind. CUT A wide shot of the "esplanade" enables us to see Petr and Lenka taking separate ways. Petr is heading towards the queue for the entrance of the museum, and Lenka towards rue de Rivoli. Lenka is coming out of the archway surrounding the Louvre. She is waiting for the light to turn red so she can cross rue de Rivoli. LIKE 5. Petr is walking quickly towards the queue. He suddenly stops, and stands on tiptoe. He's thinking, as if afraid of something. He turns around and starts running towards the archway. LIKE 6. Lenka has crossed rue de Rivoli, and starts looking at the beautiful shop windows of luxury perfumeries. Petr comes running behind her, puts his hand on her shoulder. Lenka turns around and he shakes his head in an annoyed "no". Petr : I'll come back here one day, anyway. Lenka caresses his cheek. They kiss. Petr and Lenka are sitting on the lawn of a public garden. Lenka is lying on Petr. They share a can of Czech beer and look bored. The German sheperd dog of a tramp who is sitting on a bench comes to them. Lenka strokes it and pretends to give him some beer. They smile at the idea and look at each other for a long time. Lenka starts kissing Petr earnestly. They lay down on the grass, kissing hungrily, while the dog stays around them. Strollers pass by. CUT They are on the embankments behind Notre-Dame. Petr finally decided to paint Lenka on one of his canvases, and she's taking the pose, looking aside. Right in Lenka's field of vision, a 25 year old man is sitting, he has the Parisian "bourgeois bohęme" looks (velvet jacket, hairband, sports shoes). He's reading a novel (The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera). He's looking at her, unashamed, since Petr cannot see him and Lenka is forced to look at him because of her pose. He smiles at Lenka. She answers his smile, porbably amused by the situation. CUT It's the end of the afternoon and Petr is still concentrating on his canvas. The young man is still there. He reads the last page of his book and starts smiling at Lenka insistently. He takes a pen out of his pocket, shows it to Lenka, writes something on the last page, closes the book, shows it to Lenka, puts it on the bench and leaves not without smiling at her again. CUT It's sunset, Petr is still painting Lenka, the book is still on the bench. Petr : That's it, I think it's over. Lenka : Ok, so I can move, then. Lenka stands up, goes towards the bench, puts her bakpack on it, takes a pullover out of the bag, takes the book discretely, opens it and reads what the young man wrote in it. She tears the page off, and comes back to Petr who shows her the painting. Lenka : You could have told me you weren't painting my pose exactly, so I could have moved a little. Petr : If I had told you, you wouldn't have kept that look on your face. A subjective shot on the painting shows the look of Lenka : it expresses desire, in the direction of a bright source of light. Petr and Lenka are making sandwiches in the kitchen of the youth hostel. The painting is lying on the table. Three american tourists are cooking steaks and speaking loudly with their recognizable accent. One of them sits down at the table with is plate full. Petr takes the painting of the table. American man (in English) : Sorry The American man looks at the painting and Lenka. American man : Hey, is that you ? Lenka : Yes. American man (to Petr) : Did you paint it ? Petr nods, the other Americans come and look at the painting, and talk about it. The other American man : You're a great painter, man. American woman : Do you sell it ? Petr (to Lenka, in Czech) : What does it mean, "sell" ? Lenka (ŕ Petr) : She's asking you whether you're selling your paintings. Petr (to the American girl) : Oh, no, thank you. CUT Petr and Lenka are eating their sandwiches while the Americans, who have finished their dinner, are leaving the kitchen. The Americans have given them Budweiser beers. Petr (to the American man, pointing at the beer can) : Thank you. Petr and Lenka are now alone in the kitchen. Petr : Do you want to go out tonight ? We can go for a walk. In the district that the guide told about. Lenka : No, I don't feel like it, I'm going to feel frustrated. Petr and Lenka are sleeping in bunk beds in the youth hostel, we see Petr above, he's sleeping. We move down towards Lenka's bed to find out that her eyes are still open. She sits up and dresses discreetly in her bed. Then she stands up and checks that Petr is sleeping. When leaving the room, she kicks in the canvas which was leaning against the bed. She checks that it has not woken Petr up, puts the canvas back in place and closes the door of the bedroom. Lenka is in the reception of the youth hostel, there is no one else. She goes to the reception desk and picks up the phone. She takes the torn page out of her pocket and dials a number. Lenka (in French) : Yes, hello, I'm Lenka... the girl...this afternoon. Lenka is with the young French man in a trendy Parisian pub. The place is packed up and the music is appropriate. They reach the bar and sit down. The young man (to the barman) : Please, make it a Gin&Tonic and a half of beer. The barman gives them the drinks, the young man hands the Gin&Tonic to Lenka and takes his beer. They clink glasses, look at each other and laugh. Lenka (in bad French) : What do you do, job ? [Note from the translator : this "you" stands for the french "vous", more polite and respectful than "tu"] The young man : [Note from the translator : he tells her that she can say « tu » and not « vous »... that is untranslatable in English !!!]...i'm in movies...you know,movies ? The young man makes the gesture of a hand holding a camera with a windling handle, and pretends to shoot Lenka. Lenka (nodding) : Yes, movies, I know. The young man keeps prentending to shoot Lenka with a camera, turns around her, she laughs. A panoramic shot over the roofs of Paris at night, with a feeling of boundlessness. Then we get closer to a window on the roof we are standing on, until we can make out the inside of an apartment. Then we can hear slight sounds of a woman having sex. We get inside the apartment of the young man, which is the typical apartment of a young well-off Parisian ("last floor / exposed beams"). They are making love, Lenka on top of the young man. Lenka is speaking in Czech, she speaks to him insistently. She has intonations of pleasure in her voice while moving on top of him. Lenka (in Czech) : You like that, hey, you fucking sucker, you're having a buzz, hey, fat swine, you disgust me with your smart-ass face, you're not worth a thing, what do you think, do you think I like you, do you think I love what you're doing to me now, you make me throw up, be damned, look at yourself, you sucker, you think you're pleasing me, hey... The young man seems to enjoy these sentences, said by Lenka with such intonations of pleasure. Lenka then starts faking an orgasm, while repeating : I can't feel anything, little dick, I don't feel anything, I can't even feel your thing...!!! She says the sentence louder and louder until the pseudo-orgasm. The young man obviously enjoys more and more these "exotic" sentences uttered in a language he cannot understand, and finally comes. CUT The young man sleeps deeply while Lenka is still awake, she removes the arms of the young man which was on her shoulder and gets out of the bed. We can hear the sound of a shower and see water slipping down the drain of a bath tub. The water becomes soapy. CUT The sound of the shower has ceased. Lenka stands in front of the mirror. Her haid is down, we can only see her wet hair. She raises her head and looks at herself on the mirror. On the shelf of the mirror, there is a bottle of perfume. She takes it to her nose. BACK TO: INT NIGHT. APARTMENT Lenka, naked, visits the aparment of the young man. She is in the kitchen. In the sink, we can see unwashed dishes and a strainer full of spaghettis. She looks inside the fridge and the cupboars, with a investigating look, as if she wanted to see how people in this country actually live. She takes a pot of Nutella out of the cupboard, takes a spoonful, opens a pack of biscuits and continues to visit while eating them, pack in hand. Now she looks in the library (we can see books belonging to a Law student). She opens up the Civil Code. She takes photographs out of an envelope and looks at them. We see a family picture of the young man with his parents on a boat, pictures with friends in a party... She comes back to the bed and looks at the young man sleeping on his belly. She smiles, sighing, then pretends to shoot him with a winding handle camera (just like the young man did in the pub). Lenka (speaking to herself) : Movies, movies. CUT Lenka has dressed up, she is in front of the bed. The young man is still sleeping deeply. She takes the young man's wallet out of his jacket and opens it. She takes a wad of banknotes that is inside, and takes two banknotes of 5 Euros out of them. She looks at the wad again, and finally takes a 10 Euro banknote more. Lenka (speaking to herself) : Twenty. She puts the wallet back into the jacket, we can see the rest of the banknotes and the credit card Lenka didn't take. She makes for the door and leaves the apartment, and we are back on the young man sleeping. Lenka tiptoes inside the bedroom. One of the American men from the day before wakes up, she makes a "hush" sign with her finger to him, and gets inside her bed. CUT The day is starting to rise. On the bed above, Petr is waking up. From the bed under, we see Petr's legs appearing and hanging in the air. He jumps down. He comes close to Lenka, who is turning her back to him, so he can't see her face while we can see it. She is not sleeping. He kisses her in the neck. Petr : Did you sleep well ? Lenka : Hmmmmm...no. Petr (yawning and stretching) : Where do you want to go today ? Lenka's eyes are shiny, red with fatigue. She gives a faint smile : it means wisdom, fatalism, thought and emotion, then closes her eyes. BLACK SCREEN Lenka (not subtitled in French) : Au Louvre. |
