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00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

3
00:00:08,567 --> 00:00:11,067
(KEYBOARD CLACKING)

4
00:00:28,133 --> 00:00:29,400
(MAN COUGHING)

5
00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:36,400
(SHUFFLING)

6
00:00:44,533 --> 00:00:46,300
(SIREN WAILING OUTSIDE)

7
00:00:51,267 --> 00:00:53,967
HE: He leaves a message,
a yellow sticky,

8
00:00:54,100 --> 00:00:56,667
on the dead black
of his computer screen.

9
00:00:57,167 --> 00:00:58,767
(READING)

10
00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:05,400
His colleagues
won't be seeing him
for the rest of the afternoon.

11
00:01:05,533 --> 00:01:10,633
Rare joy of truancy,
of bold escape
from the trap of work.

12
00:01:13,067 --> 00:01:15,100
That heap of typescript
can be left to dwell

13
00:01:15,233 --> 00:01:19,400
on its thousand offences
against grammar
and good sense.

14
00:01:19,533 --> 00:01:23,067
His trusty blue pen
can snooze with its cap on.

15
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:24,800
Nobody will notice.

16
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,867
He shuts the door
on the sleeping dog
of his own departure.

17
00:01:32,067 --> 00:01:33,733
Hurries, not too fast,

18
00:01:33,867 --> 00:01:39,467
along the corridor,
taps the lift
button and waits.

19
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,767
To meet even one person
at this delicate juncture

20
00:01:42,900 --> 00:01:45,100
would sully
the whole enterprise.

21
00:01:47,300 --> 00:01:49,800
-But he's in luck.
-(LIFT BELL DINGS)

22
00:01:49,933 --> 00:01:52,067
The lift yawns emptily.

23
00:01:52,733 --> 00:01:54,333
He steps in

24
00:01:55,133 --> 00:01:57,067
is enclosed

25
00:01:58,333 --> 00:02:01,500
and carried
downwards to sunlight

26
00:02:01,633 --> 00:02:06,067
and London's approximation
of fresh air.

27
00:02:07,700 --> 00:02:09,600
With one bound

28
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,200
he is free!

29
00:02:17,067 --> 00:02:22,133
It's a district
of literary ghosts
that walk in broad daylight.

30
00:02:22,267 --> 00:02:25,133
Keep your imagination peeled
and see Virginia Woolf

31
00:02:25,267 --> 00:02:28,300
loping off to the library
with a trug full of books.

32
00:02:31,967 --> 00:02:36,167
And there goes TS Eliot,
bound for his first
martini of the day,

33
00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:39,567
with his gig-lamps
and his immaculate sheen.

34
00:02:45,100 --> 00:02:48,067
Bloomsbury and
its blue plaques.

35
00:02:48,133 --> 00:02:50,767
The squares and
stucco terraces,

36
00:02:50,900 --> 00:02:55,733
where the little industrious
publishers still like to
hide their offices.

37
00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,333
Leafy literary-land,

38
00:02:59,467 --> 00:03:02,500
that by some dispensation
has been left to stand

39
00:03:02,633 --> 00:03:07,433
amid the road drills and high,
swivelling cranes.

40
00:03:10,633 --> 00:03:14,333
In his fifties, he favours
a younger man's
impatient pace,

41
00:03:14,467 --> 00:03:17,700
skipping round dawdling
or stupidly
halted pedestrians.

42
00:03:20,567 --> 00:03:23,067
You're not
properly living in London

43
00:03:23,133 --> 00:03:25,800
if you don't use the dodges,
the short-cuts.

44
00:03:27,167 --> 00:03:29,300
Yet it's 20
minutes' walk from work

45
00:03:29,433 --> 00:03:32,300
to this lunchtime date
with an old flame.

46
00:03:34,267 --> 00:03:39,367
Gaggles of tourists straggle
more provocatively than ever.

47
00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:43,533
Never mind,
he's making good time,
note the active verb,

48
00:03:43,667 --> 00:03:46,567
and he expects she'll be late.

49
00:03:48,167 --> 00:03:51,800
The restaurant is
an old haunt, though he hasn't
been there for years.

50
00:03:51,933 --> 00:03:55,800
Zanzotti's
unreformed Soho Italian.

51
00:03:56,633 --> 00:03:58,067
Chianti in a basket,

52
00:03:58,133 --> 00:04:00,967
breadsticks you snap
with a sneeze of dust,

53
00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:04,100
red gingham cloths
overlaid on the diagonal

54
00:04:04,233 --> 00:04:05,900
with plain green paper ones.

55
00:04:06,067 --> 00:04:08,833
Finger smears at the neck
of the water carafe,

56
00:04:08,967 --> 00:04:16,067
and Massimo himself touring
the tables with
his fake bonhomie.

57
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,700
-(JACKHAMMER CLATTERING)
-But Soho has changed.

58
00:04:18,833 --> 00:04:21,200
The speciality food shops
pushed out of business,

59
00:04:21,333 --> 00:04:26,067
tarts chased off the streets
and a new kind of
trashiness moving in.

60
00:04:26,167 --> 00:04:28,467
Cultureless, fly-by-night.

61
00:04:29,567 --> 00:04:31,367
But hey presto.

62
00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:37,367
Zanzotti's edges into view,
exactly as memory
has preserved it.

63
00:04:38,467 --> 00:04:39,600
Phew.

64
00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:43,667
When he suddenly recollects...

65
00:04:45,533 --> 00:04:47,400
What, precisely?

66
00:04:47,533 --> 00:04:51,333
Deja vu?
Some artistic analogy?

67
00:04:52,133 --> 00:04:54,400
Too bad. Let it go.

68
00:04:57,800 --> 00:04:59,667
On the threshold,

69
00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,800
on the edge of a shadow-world
that is yet to welcome him,

70
00:05:03,933 --> 00:05:06,067
he stands and waits.

71
00:05:07,233 --> 00:05:09,300
Waits for a waiter.

72
00:05:09,433 --> 00:05:11,200
(DINERS
CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

73
00:05:11,333 --> 00:05:14,733
First disappointing thing,
no sign of Massimo,

74
00:05:15,900 --> 00:05:17,767
nor of his old staff.

75
00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:21,733
Massimo's pirate crew,
as he privately
thought of them,

76
00:05:21,867 --> 00:05:25,433
some of whose names he knew
whilst knowing
nothing of their lives

77
00:05:25,567 --> 00:05:29,833
beyond the act,
grave, flirtatious,
resentful, brisk, droll,

78
00:05:29,967 --> 00:05:32,333
each brought to the table.

79
00:05:32,467 --> 00:05:34,800
Instead, young men and women,

80
00:05:34,933 --> 00:05:39,633
roughly half and half
and not all looking
especially Italian.

81
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,533
How long has it been?
Five years?

82
00:05:43,667 --> 00:05:46,333
Six years? Ten?

83
00:05:47,533 --> 00:05:49,200
Fifteen?

84
00:05:50,067 --> 00:05:52,133
God help us all.

85
00:05:52,267 --> 00:05:55,067
Though time's winged chariot
with the brakes off

86
00:05:55,167 --> 00:05:59,467
and in full downhill hurtle
must be inaudible,
unheard-of, rather,

87
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,467
to these
sprightly boys and girls.

88
00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:10,167
He is noticed, but not
recognised, by a waiter he
does not recognise,

89
00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:12,167
but who catches his name
in his right ear,

90
00:06:12,300 --> 00:06:15,500
then bows clerically over
the ledger that bulges
from all the names,

91
00:06:15,633 --> 00:06:18,467
the months and years of names
written in it,

92
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,633
and that sits open on a slope
like a church-lectern Bible.

93
00:06:22,767 --> 00:06:25,133
The Book of Reservations.

94
00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:32,167
As ever, that pause of
anxiety and mute appeal.

95
00:06:34,867 --> 00:06:37,167
But there, happily, it is.

96
00:06:37,300 --> 00:06:39,533
Scriptural confirmation.

97
00:06:39,667 --> 00:06:44,200
Without a smile, without
a word, he is eyebrowed
and nodded to follow.

98
00:06:47,233 --> 00:06:50,600
Thank you.
And the wine list, please?

99
00:06:52,833 --> 00:06:55,233
On the back. I see.

100
00:06:57,067 --> 00:07:02,133
So things are
different after all,
under new mismanagement.

101
00:07:02,267 --> 00:07:04,867
Might have known it.
Did know it, perhaps.

102
00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,067
The very table linen
has lost its patriotism.

103
00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,400
Plain white. We surrender.

104
00:07:13,067 --> 00:07:14,833
And this menu,

105
00:07:14,967 --> 00:07:19,567
this twanging laminated card,
big as a riot
policeman's shield.

106
00:07:20,667 --> 00:07:24,700
Hmm. At first glance,
pizzas by the yard.

107
00:07:24,833 --> 00:07:28,467
More pizzas than
there should be.
And too much designer pizzazz.

108
00:07:30,767 --> 00:07:35,067
Choose the right wine and
have it ready breathing
for when she arrives.

109
00:07:35,167 --> 00:07:36,867
There's a mid-price Chianti,

110
00:07:37,067 --> 00:07:39,767
which won't come plump
in tight straw swaddling,

111
00:07:39,900 --> 00:07:42,567
but will do for
auld lang syne.

112
00:07:46,133 --> 00:07:51,433
Old times' sake
being the precarious
purpose of this tete-a-tete,

113
00:07:51,567 --> 00:07:55,267
and possibly
a great big mistake.

114
00:07:57,733 --> 00:08:00,100
We said we wouldn't look back.

115
00:08:00,233 --> 00:08:03,267
Why did she email
him suggesting...?

116
00:08:05,067 --> 00:08:07,067
No, he did.

117
00:08:07,733 --> 00:08:09,800
(LAUGHING LOUDLY)

118
00:08:12,900 --> 00:08:17,200
He commands, nice word,
a clear view of the entrance,

119
00:08:17,333 --> 00:08:20,133
lit contre-jour
so that each new arrival,

120
00:08:20,267 --> 00:08:22,067
new candidate for his notice,

121
00:08:22,167 --> 00:08:26,567
appears to step from
brightness to bathos with
a tacit apology.

122
00:08:26,700 --> 00:08:28,467
"Sorry, I'm not..."

123
00:08:30,267 --> 00:08:31,700
But if not, what?

124
00:08:33,133 --> 00:08:35,300
What will she look like?

125
00:08:36,633 --> 00:08:38,633
-(CORK POPPING)
-Fwop.

126
00:08:38,767 --> 00:08:40,533
The cork leaves the bottle

127
00:08:40,667 --> 00:08:43,700
and his quick
nose wants to pick up
the escaping bouquet.

128
00:08:43,833 --> 00:08:45,600
Will it be all right?

129
00:08:45,733 --> 00:08:48,667
The waiter pours
out the statutory
measure, one imperial glug,

130
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,733
which he lifts
and breathes over thinkingly.

131
00:08:54,167 --> 00:08:55,667
Not corked.

132
00:08:57,133 --> 00:08:59,067
That's fine, thank you.
Leave it there, please.

133
00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,433
He'll do the pouring.

134
00:09:08,367 --> 00:09:11,400
It's quite sharp
but should broaden out.

135
00:09:12,833 --> 00:09:14,400
He takes his tumbler of water,

136
00:09:14,533 --> 00:09:17,167
overweight bubbles mobbing up
to greet him,

137
00:09:17,300 --> 00:09:21,833
sips that and
feels the chill fizz
smash against his palate.

138
00:09:21,967 --> 00:09:23,433
Thirstier than he thought,

139
00:09:23,567 --> 00:09:27,200
he drinks till the ice rests
on his upper lip.

140
00:09:27,967 --> 00:09:29,833
SHE: Hello.

141
00:09:29,967 --> 00:09:32,833
She's here.
How did that happen?

142
00:09:32,967 --> 00:09:35,900
Had he taken his eyes
off the door for so long?

143
00:09:36,067 --> 00:09:37,900
Flustered, self-reprimanding,

144
00:09:38,067 --> 00:09:40,767
he is still able to start
to rise from his seat...

145
00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:42,233
Well...

146
00:09:43,100 --> 00:09:45,067
I didn't see...

147
00:09:45,167 --> 00:09:48,300
...and be met halfway with
a soft peck, smack in
the middle of his mouth.

148
00:09:49,367 --> 00:09:52,300
Familiar collision
of pout against pout.

149
00:09:54,133 --> 00:09:56,200
Though there's
something different, too.

150
00:09:56,333 --> 00:09:58,967
A new, what? Fragrance? Aura?

151
00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:01,600
Hint of carefree expenditure?

152
00:10:01,733 --> 00:10:03,533
Waft of wealth?

153
00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,267
How lovely.

154
00:10:09,533 --> 00:10:10,800
I hope I'm not late.

155
00:10:10,933 --> 00:10:12,333
You're not late at all.

156
00:10:12,467 --> 00:10:16,833
So, the human paradox.
The same and changed.

157
00:10:16,967 --> 00:10:20,800
All that he remembers,
vivid in the differences.

158
00:10:21,700 --> 00:10:23,500
Is she thinner?

159
00:10:23,633 --> 00:10:26,367
Somehow there's a sharper
outline which is not just
smart tailoring,

160
00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:29,400
and her hair
looks better behaved.

161
00:10:29,533 --> 00:10:32,367
She hangs her bag,
pampered scarlet leather,

162
00:10:32,500 --> 00:10:35,367
over the back of her chair
and skips into the seat.

163
00:10:36,933 --> 00:10:40,667
"Now," that movement says.
Quick, eager, a touch needy,

164
00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,600
as if she were
beginning a lesson
in a subject she's good at.

165
00:10:44,733 --> 00:10:46,733
It puts him on his mettle.

166
00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:48,533
There!

167
00:10:49,300 --> 00:10:50,933
Here.

168
00:10:51,067 --> 00:10:54,167
Lips, eyes, eyebrows
and the new
lines in her forehead

169
00:10:54,300 --> 00:10:56,300
fill out the harmony.

170
00:10:57,500 --> 00:10:58,900
Have some wine.

171
00:10:59,033 --> 00:11:02,800
I'm afraid it
hasn't really had time...

172
00:11:02,933 --> 00:11:05,567
He pours into the two glasses,

173
00:11:05,700 --> 00:11:09,100
measuring,
by ear, identical notes.

174
00:11:11,833 --> 00:11:15,700
This is a disappointment.
Remember the old flasks?

175
00:11:15,833 --> 00:11:17,833
Kitsch, I know,
but didn't you
have a soft spot?

176
00:11:17,967 --> 00:11:21,067
Snug in their raffia
like fat cuckoos
in small nests?

177
00:11:21,167 --> 00:11:24,467
Still, nothing lasts.

178
00:11:26,067 --> 00:11:28,900
-What's the toast?
-Happy days?

179
00:11:29,067 --> 00:11:30,700
Happy days it is.

180
00:11:30,833 --> 00:11:35,800
Rims meet and clink,
swaying the cradled liquid.

181
00:11:35,933 --> 00:11:38,467
Dark, sluggish ink.

182
00:11:39,500 --> 00:11:40,767
And they drink.

183
00:11:42,533 --> 00:11:44,267
Becoming palatable.

184
00:11:45,833 --> 00:11:48,633
-You haven't changed.
-Oh, I have.

185
00:11:48,767 --> 00:11:50,900
Witness this
morning's bathroom mirror.

186
00:11:51,067 --> 00:11:52,933
The grey, the flab, the stoop,
the frown,

187
00:11:53,067 --> 00:11:56,967
and in the deliberating,
disbelieving eyes,

188
00:11:57,100 --> 00:12:00,600
something like...terror.

189
00:12:02,700 --> 00:12:04,400
Not to notice.

190
00:12:04,533 --> 00:12:06,733
"Was that one
of the problems?"
he wonders,

191
00:12:06,867 --> 00:12:12,533
her blithe rebuffing
of such facts as didn't match
an optimistic outlook?

192
00:12:14,067 --> 00:12:18,233
He could argue, but the waiter
intervenes with a second menu,

193
00:12:18,367 --> 00:12:21,133
which slices
into the infant conversation

194
00:12:21,267 --> 00:12:25,067
like a sweetly swung axe.

195
00:12:25,167 --> 00:12:27,267
-The menu, signora.
-Thank you.

196
00:12:32,900 --> 00:12:35,833
It's almost all pizzas.

197
00:12:35,967 --> 00:12:38,067
I'm afraid the place
has gone to the dogs.

198
00:12:38,133 --> 00:12:42,700
Don't be absurd, it's fine.
In fact, at first glance,
it's improved.

199
00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,500
You know,
when you suggested this,
I wasn't so sure.

200
00:12:47,633 --> 00:12:49,233
Almost any other venue.

201
00:12:49,367 --> 00:12:51,667
All that surly waiter business
was much more
your kick than mine.

202
00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,067
But when I came in the door,
I thought, "Well, okay."

203
00:12:54,133 --> 00:12:57,367
And I'm quite
glad to see a menu
that doesn't make a fetish

204
00:12:57,500 --> 00:13:00,233
of stracciatella
and pollo sorpreso.

205
00:13:03,533 --> 00:13:04,633
Good.

206
00:13:05,667 --> 00:13:07,133
Excellent.

207
00:13:08,167 --> 00:13:09,767
If you say so.

208
00:13:13,333 --> 00:13:18,533
Did he play the wrong card?
Could things be turning nasty?

209
00:13:18,667 --> 00:13:20,167
Retreating to cover,

210
00:13:20,300 --> 00:13:23,300
he concentrates
hard on the antipasti.

211
00:13:24,833 --> 00:13:27,433
Come on. No sulks.

212
00:13:27,567 --> 00:13:29,767
Be nice. Sois sage.

213
00:13:29,900 --> 00:13:34,300
Cajoling English
and caressing French.

214
00:13:34,433 --> 00:13:38,233
How long has it been?
Ten years? Eleven?

215
00:13:40,267 --> 00:13:41,367
Fifteen.

216
00:13:41,500 --> 00:13:44,600
No, it can't be that.
Let's settle for 12.

217
00:13:44,733 --> 00:13:48,233
And we've only got lunch
in which to tell each other
everything, so...

218
00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:52,067
Truce?

219
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:56,133
For a moment, he withholds,
mouth full of pause...

220
00:13:58,233 --> 00:14:01,067
which he can either
spit out or swallow.

221
00:14:01,667 --> 00:14:02,833
What's the use?

222
00:14:02,967 --> 00:14:04,167
Pax.

223
00:14:07,567 --> 00:14:08,600
(WOMAN SIGHS)

224
00:14:11,067 --> 00:14:15,233
His glass is drained,
hers is barely touched.

225
00:14:15,367 --> 00:14:20,433
Judiciously, he brings
the levels level.

226
00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:24,367
So...

227
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:28,233
Who's to start?

228
00:14:28,367 --> 00:14:31,633
-You.
-Right.

229
00:14:31,767 --> 00:14:35,933
I'll tell you
everything I can.
There's little to relate.

230
00:14:36,067 --> 00:14:39,067
-It was an aged, aged man...
-Stop!

231
00:14:39,133 --> 00:14:40,767
-What?
-If you can't be serious,

232
00:14:40,900 --> 00:14:43,333
we'll talk
about something else
or nothing at all.

233
00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:46,300
I was about to do that.
That's my whole story.

234
00:14:47,633 --> 00:14:48,867
Signora, signore.

235
00:14:49,067 --> 00:14:51,133
-We haven't...
-Yes, thank you.

236
00:14:51,267 --> 00:14:54,200
-Impeccable timing.
-But I'd like some advice.

237
00:14:54,333 --> 00:14:56,067
She doesn't need it,

238
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,100
but it's her style to entrust
herself in
unimportant matters,

239
00:14:59,233 --> 00:15:01,600
pose questions that
are easy to answer,

240
00:15:01,733 --> 00:15:04,067
and indeed it makes the waiter
smile when,

241
00:15:04,133 --> 00:15:05,900
tapping the menu decisively,

242
00:15:06,067 --> 00:15:09,533
she requests
the pumpkin ravioli
because he has recommended it,

243
00:15:09,667 --> 00:15:11,800
with sea bass to follow.

244
00:15:11,933 --> 00:15:13,300
WAITER: Signore?

245
00:15:13,433 --> 00:15:14,667
His turn.

246
00:15:16,067 --> 00:15:17,500
Carpaccio.

247
00:15:19,167 --> 00:15:21,300
And in the absence of...

248
00:15:22,167 --> 00:15:24,367
pollo whatsit,

249
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:27,200
pizza,
Napoletana, extra anchovies.

250
00:15:29,367 --> 00:15:33,100
No one smiles at that,
because he is not nice.

251
00:15:38,500 --> 00:15:40,733
What say we start again?

252
00:15:40,867 --> 00:15:45,367
-Wind back the years?
-Minutes.
You know what I mean.

253
00:15:45,500 --> 00:15:49,167
Ah, my autobiography.
No change there.

254
00:15:49,300 --> 00:15:52,300
Confessions of a Copy Editor,
Chapter 93.

255
00:15:52,433 --> 00:15:56,067
It's an ordinary day
in a publishing
house of ill repute.

256
00:15:56,133 --> 00:15:59,133
Another moronic manuscript
comes crashing down the chute

257
00:15:59,267 --> 00:16:00,900
to be turned into art.

258
00:16:01,067 --> 00:16:03,633
This morning it
was Wayne Wanker's
latest dog's dinner of sex,

259
00:16:03,767 --> 00:16:06,733
teenage philosophy
and writing-course prose.

260
00:16:06,867 --> 00:16:08,633
Abracadabra,
kick it up the arse

261
00:16:08,767 --> 00:16:11,600
and out it goes to be
Book of the Week or
some other bollocks.

262
00:16:11,733 --> 00:16:12,867
What a fraud. What a farce.

263
00:16:13,067 --> 00:16:15,367
And tomorrow,
which of our geniuses

264
00:16:15,500 --> 00:16:18,233
will escape from the zoo
and head straight for us

265
00:16:18,367 --> 00:16:22,600
with a new masterpiece
lifeless in his jaws?

266
00:16:24,067 --> 00:16:27,267
That's about the size of it.
What about you?

267
00:16:31,267 --> 00:16:33,667
-Business as usual, then?
-Yes.

268
00:16:35,067 --> 00:16:38,367
Business...as usual.

269
00:16:38,500 --> 00:16:42,433
After such a rant,
he finds it difficult
to look her in the eye,

270
00:16:42,567 --> 00:16:46,367
which is bright, amused,
searching, pitiless,

271
00:16:47,067 --> 00:16:48,800
but he has to try.

272
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,633
A sip may help.

273
00:16:54,767 --> 00:16:57,633
When he notices
for the first time the faint,

274
00:16:57,767 --> 00:17:04,867
faint nimbus
of the lens circling the
gold-shot azure of each iris.

275
00:17:05,067 --> 00:17:08,733
Well, of course.
"Oracle eyes" he
used to call them.

276
00:17:08,867 --> 00:17:13,233
The harder you looked,
the more sublime
and unreadable they became.

277
00:17:13,367 --> 00:17:16,800
But have they
lost their old force?

278
00:17:16,933 --> 00:17:22,067
The heretical question
strengthen his own stare.

279
00:17:22,133 --> 00:17:25,867
Gaze meets gaze,
revealing, as ever,

280
00:17:26,067 --> 00:17:29,367
everything and nothing there.

281
00:17:32,700 --> 00:17:35,333
Flyaway thought. Back to life.

282
00:17:35,467 --> 00:17:37,333
And you?

283
00:17:37,467 --> 00:17:40,967
Oh! The good wife
and loving mother.

284
00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:43,533
That keeps me occupied.
I've no complaints.

285
00:17:43,667 --> 00:17:47,167
And Paris is a fabulous city.
You really should visit.

286
00:17:47,300 --> 00:17:48,933
He has,

287
00:17:49,067 --> 00:17:53,167
but is it
the moment to mention
that crazed escapade?

288
00:17:54,300 --> 00:17:57,467
Skulking at dusk
in her prim grey square,

289
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,367
address folded in
his raincoat pocket,

290
00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:04,700
with no real intention
of ringing the doorbell,
yet unable to depart.

291
00:18:06,467 --> 00:18:08,233
Until the horrible
shock of the pigeons,

292
00:18:08,367 --> 00:18:11,767
an entire flock
rising at some scare
into the diminished light

293
00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:16,067
like a thousand umbrellas
simultaneously opening

294
00:18:16,133 --> 00:18:19,067
and telling him to go.

295
00:18:21,767 --> 00:18:25,667
No, he thinks. No.

296
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,433
She seems not to have noticed,
averted from him,

297
00:18:29,567 --> 00:18:34,067
twisting in her seat,
chin raised,
eyes reconnoitring.

298
00:18:35,433 --> 00:18:38,167
He'd like to
kiss her long neck.

299
00:18:39,533 --> 00:18:41,067
Nibble it.

300
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,233
Nuzzle her
jawbone with his nose.

301
00:18:47,733 --> 00:18:50,533
Which one is our waiter?
We could do with
some more water.

302
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:55,067
-That's...
That's him over there.
-Are you sure?

303
00:18:55,133 --> 00:18:56,467
You can't have forgotten,

304
00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,167
you were
practically seducing him
a minute ago.

305
00:18:58,300 --> 00:19:01,100
It's nice to know
you're still madly jealous.

306
00:19:01,233 --> 00:19:03,900
Oh, yes,
he's rotten with jealousy.

307
00:19:04,067 --> 00:19:06,267
Absolutely I am not.

308
00:19:08,133 --> 00:19:10,367
And now we're on the subject,
how is the old pseud?

309
00:19:10,500 --> 00:19:14,067
He means her husband,
the celebrated novelist.

310
00:19:14,733 --> 00:19:16,400
The ubiquitous jacket photo,

311
00:19:16,533 --> 00:19:19,500
the wintry smirk
that stole her from him.

312
00:19:20,733 --> 00:19:22,333
-She throws out a laugh.
-Ha!

313
00:19:22,467 --> 00:19:25,500
-A single syllable.
-Flourishing, thank you.

314
00:19:25,633 --> 00:19:28,067
How could she have
been so gullible?

315
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,100
There's a new book of stories
out in the autumn

316
00:19:31,233 --> 00:19:32,600
and right now,
he's hard at work

317
00:19:32,733 --> 00:19:35,100
on some lectures that Harvard
have asked him to do, so...

318
00:19:35,733 --> 00:19:37,200
everything's perfect.

319
00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:41,367
And how could he have been
so abject as to let it happen?

320
00:19:45,567 --> 00:19:48,533
Once more she is distracted,
catching the eye of the waiter

321
00:19:48,667 --> 00:19:51,767
with a demure flutter
of restaurant semaphore

322
00:19:51,900 --> 00:19:55,200
and asking for more water.

323
00:19:55,333 --> 00:19:58,100
And we'll need
another bottle of this.

324
00:20:22,567 --> 00:20:24,367
(CLEARING THROAT)

325
00:20:25,833 --> 00:20:27,500
Right. Uh, so, does he...

326
00:20:27,633 --> 00:20:30,100
(STUTTERING) Does
he know that we're...

327
00:20:31,867 --> 00:20:33,067
Having lunch?

328
00:20:34,367 --> 00:20:37,000
Yes. Of course. I told him.

329
00:20:37,133 --> 00:20:39,867
And he
instructed me to pass on
his warmest regards,

330
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,033
which I've no
intention of doing,
as he well knows.

331
00:20:44,567 --> 00:20:46,533
That's very kind.

332
00:20:49,900 --> 00:20:52,367
Of both of you, I suppose.

333
00:21:07,133 --> 00:21:08,567
He watches,

334
00:21:08,700 --> 00:21:11,667
and his companion
watches him watch,

335
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,400
the flexing of supple back
and sturdy haunches

336
00:21:15,533 --> 00:21:21,067
as the waitress raises
and twists the head of
the wooden phallus,

337
00:21:21,733 --> 00:21:23,400
scattering seed.

338
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,300
-WAITER: Buon appetito.
-Thank you.

339
00:21:32,867 --> 00:21:37,067
First mouthfuls are discussed
and pronounced delicious.

340
00:21:37,167 --> 00:21:40,567
Then, as of old,
forks trade between dishes

341
00:21:40,700 --> 00:21:42,633
and swaps are analysed.

342
00:21:43,700 --> 00:21:45,500
Mmm. You chose well.

343
00:21:47,133 --> 00:21:49,067
Nutmeg, I think.
Or could it be mace?

344
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,400
Sweet accord of comparisons
and compliments,

345
00:21:52,533 --> 00:21:55,667
recalling a time
before the souring.

346
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,767
Beef's beautifully lean,
and the capers are
not too overpowering.

347
00:21:59,900 --> 00:22:03,067
I suppose this is nothing
to what you're used to.

348
00:22:03,167 --> 00:22:06,500
Paris?
You know, we never eat out.

349
00:22:06,633 --> 00:22:09,767
The boys have appetites,
but absolutely no taste.

350
00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:11,367
It's like feeding large dogs.

351
00:22:11,500 --> 00:22:15,333
Smart restaurants,
haute cuisine,
would be a total waste.

352
00:22:15,467 --> 00:22:20,400
So this, even Zanzotti's,
is a rare treat.

353
00:22:20,533 --> 00:22:24,500
Despite the qualification,
satisfying to hear.

354
00:22:26,700 --> 00:22:30,200
He has killed a bottle
almost single-handed.

355
00:22:30,333 --> 00:22:33,633
When he seizes the new one
and nods it in her direction,

356
00:22:33,767 --> 00:22:38,800
her flattened hand places an
interdiction on
the half-full glass

357
00:22:38,933 --> 00:22:42,100
that would be
half-empty to him.

358
00:22:43,300 --> 00:22:47,900
Slender finger,
once so intimate

359
00:22:48,067 --> 00:22:51,467
and versatile and tender.

360
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:56,500
Whirls of wrinkles
sealing
the knuckles deeper now,

361
00:22:56,633 --> 00:23:00,800
though the lacquerless nails
remain buffed and neat.

362
00:23:02,700 --> 00:23:06,400
Admitting defeat,
the bottle
withdraws backwards,

363
00:23:06,533 --> 00:23:11,233
still bowing like a courtier,
turns to his own glass and...

364
00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,433
"a word in your ear"...

365
00:23:16,567 --> 00:23:20,767
blurts out its sorrows
in a splashy gabble.

366
00:23:24,900 --> 00:23:28,167
With the blade of her fork
she presses down, punctures,

367
00:23:28,300 --> 00:23:30,333
gashes, saws, seesaws,

368
00:23:30,467 --> 00:23:33,900
slices into a plump,
glistening pasta packet,

369
00:23:34,067 --> 00:23:38,300
then scoops and carries
half to her mouth.

370
00:23:40,433 --> 00:23:42,600
Chews.

371
00:23:42,733 --> 00:23:49,067
Chews, he observes, with less
conspicuous relish
than she used to.

372
00:23:49,133 --> 00:23:52,800
Have all her appetites
turned less lusty?

373
00:23:55,300 --> 00:23:56,767
Mind your own business.

374
00:23:58,333 --> 00:24:04,500
But isn't it his business
to remember certain times?

375
00:24:04,633 --> 00:24:07,400
Old times,
bedtimes, between-times,
anytimes,

376
00:24:07,533 --> 00:24:11,867
of a startling, impromptu,
innocent lasciviousness

377
00:24:12,067 --> 00:24:13,767
that he'll never know again?

378
00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:17,967
Sleep-musky kisses
that roused him
in the small hours,

379
00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:21,133
peremptory custody
of light, firm limbs,

380
00:24:21,267 --> 00:24:25,333
the polyrhythmic riding
he'll never know again.

381
00:24:25,467 --> 00:24:27,767
Caught a fish and let it go.

382
00:24:28,633 --> 00:24:32,667
Woe, woe, woe, woe...

383
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,667
(MEN LAUGHING LOUDLY)

384
00:24:38,067 --> 00:24:40,700
Found a treasure
and threw it away.

385
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,367
Hey, hey.

386
00:24:44,933 --> 00:24:46,300
Drop it now.

387
00:24:48,933 --> 00:24:51,467
But jaws rending the raw meat

388
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:58,067
beat, beat, beat,
beat a relentless measure.

389
00:24:58,167 --> 00:25:01,300
Audible,
fortunately only to himself.

390
00:25:02,733 --> 00:25:05,100
Figure of folly and pathos.

391
00:25:05,233 --> 00:25:08,933
Voyeur of the past
and of the present,

392
00:25:09,067 --> 00:25:12,267
he steals a peep.

393
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:17,967
Every movement has elegance
and economy is swift and deft.

394
00:25:18,100 --> 00:25:23,267
The jut of her wristbone,
marvel of
engineering, holds the secret.

395
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,433
And as a connoisseur,
he yearns to inspect it at
closer quarters,

396
00:25:27,567 --> 00:25:29,967
by eye and by touch.

397
00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:32,233
But how can he catch it?

398
00:25:34,067 --> 00:25:38,067
Like a butterfly hunter,
he ponders the problem.

399
00:25:42,633 --> 00:25:44,200
Sweetheart.

400
00:25:46,533 --> 00:25:47,533
Sweetheart.

401
00:25:47,667 --> 00:25:50,500
I hate to say it
but you're leering.

402
00:25:52,733 --> 00:25:54,433
Oh, God.
You're right, I'm sorry.

403
00:25:54,567 --> 00:25:57,067
It's the old male gaze.

404
00:25:57,133 --> 00:25:59,867
Through alcoholic haze.

405
00:26:00,067 --> 00:26:02,367
You can say that again.

406
00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:05,633
I think I've fallen in love
with your wrist.

407
00:26:05,767 --> 00:26:08,067
I think I've become
a wrist fetishist.

408
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,133
You're
an everything fetishist.
Always have been.

409
00:26:11,267 --> 00:26:12,600
Guilty.

410
00:26:12,733 --> 00:26:15,100
You know,
it's one thing to ogle
a waitress' bum

411
00:26:15,233 --> 00:26:18,233
but this is the wrist
of a married woman.

412
00:26:19,567 --> 00:26:20,933
Private property.

413
00:26:21,067 --> 00:26:24,600
Look, I'm sure you can see the
mark of the manacles, so...

414
00:26:25,667 --> 00:26:26,933
kindly desist.

415
00:26:27,067 --> 00:26:29,667
Now, where are the toilets?

416
00:26:50,833 --> 00:26:53,167
Half empty, but that can wait.

417
00:26:53,300 --> 00:26:55,567
How's the bottle? Plenty.

418
00:26:56,833 --> 00:26:58,067
He thinks.

419
00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:01,500
Thinks about drink.

420
00:27:01,633 --> 00:27:04,067
About his drinking.

421
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:09,800
The taste of his last mouthful
lies like rust on
his tongue, harsh.

422
00:27:09,933 --> 00:27:13,600
And yet his
tongue craves more.

423
00:27:13,733 --> 00:27:18,067
At rest in the glass,
the wine is rusted purple.

424
00:27:18,167 --> 00:27:20,200
So there exists an affinity,

425
00:27:20,333 --> 00:27:25,133
a strong mutual pull
between wine and tongue.

426
00:27:25,933 --> 00:27:28,067
They are complementary.

427
00:27:28,767 --> 00:27:31,200
They are in love.

428
00:27:32,933 --> 00:27:34,833
The silent tongue calls out

429
00:27:34,967 --> 00:27:39,267
and the wine,
though inanimate,
will heed the call.

430
00:27:40,933 --> 00:27:43,367
Well, it's a theory,

431
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:46,333
lent support
when the glass rises

432
00:27:46,467 --> 00:27:49,167
and this time,
not stopping short,

433
00:27:49,300 --> 00:27:53,433
delivers one
lover to the other.

434
00:27:55,733 --> 00:27:57,167
They kiss,

435
00:27:58,267 --> 00:28:00,433
there's a little death,

436
00:28:01,267 --> 00:28:03,567
an insufficient bliss,

437
00:28:04,267 --> 00:28:06,533
but repeatable later.

438
00:28:07,867 --> 00:28:10,200
(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

439
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,333
But he's interrupted
by mention of a book he's
actually written.

440
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:22,067
His own.

441
00:28:22,167 --> 00:28:23,667
His only.

442
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:24,867
I read your book.

443
00:28:25,067 --> 00:28:27,333
-Are you working on any more?
-No.

444
00:28:28,067 --> 00:28:29,533
Blow all.

445
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:31,733
Not a squeak.

446
00:28:32,633 --> 00:28:34,433
True.

447
00:28:34,567 --> 00:28:37,767
The muse of
misery so lavish in her
attentions for a year or two

448
00:28:37,900 --> 00:28:39,800
has not revisited,

449
00:28:39,933 --> 00:28:45,067
and that modest volume
of 36 wounded and weeping
lyrics remains unique.

450
00:28:46,233 --> 00:28:48,133
Not that the world
cries out for more.

451
00:28:48,267 --> 00:28:50,100
One shitty review in the TLS,

452
00:28:50,233 --> 00:28:54,567
and its round of
common room sniggers
and put the dampers on that.

453
00:28:54,700 --> 00:28:57,267
Sales scraped
through to three figures

454
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:02,167
and the once gung-ho publisher
ceased to return phone calls.

455
00:29:02,300 --> 00:29:05,400
An illuminating
history of betrayals.

456
00:29:05,533 --> 00:29:08,200
A book conceived in tears

457
00:29:08,333 --> 00:29:11,167
will be born drowned.

458
00:29:13,133 --> 00:29:14,800
That's a great shame.

459
00:29:14,933 --> 00:29:18,500
Naturally, I wasn't your
most objective reader but...

460
00:29:18,633 --> 00:29:21,467
I thought
the poems had real power.

461
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:26,500
Some of the mythic stuff was
over the top but I
could see your, uh...

462
00:29:26,633 --> 00:29:29,333
Stop right there.

463
00:29:29,467 --> 00:29:31,067
What do you mean
"mythic stuff"?

464
00:29:31,133 --> 00:29:34,867
The mythic stuff was
the whole fucking point.

465
00:29:35,067 --> 00:29:36,633
(SIGHING)

466
00:29:36,767 --> 00:29:40,300
Well,
for a start, I'm not actually
in thrall to the King of Death

467
00:29:40,433 --> 00:29:41,867
or whoever he's meant to be.

468
00:29:42,067 --> 00:29:43,400
Yes, you are. Don't you see?

469
00:29:43,533 --> 00:29:45,967
-And you're totally Orpheus?
-Right.

470
00:29:46,100 --> 00:29:47,900
And I'm...

471
00:29:48,067 --> 00:29:49,900
You're my wife, you're dead,
and it's my business to
bring you back to life,

472
00:29:50,067 --> 00:29:52,500
which I very
nearly succeed in doing.

473
00:29:52,633 --> 00:29:54,800
But you don't. No way.

474
00:29:54,933 --> 00:30:00,067
Because I like being dead,
and that's where the metaphor,
the analogy,

475
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:03,167
the whole preposterous
contrivance falls apart.

476
00:30:03,300 --> 00:30:04,933
So you loathed it.

477
00:30:05,067 --> 00:30:06,800
-I had my quibbles.
-You loathed it.

478
00:30:06,933 --> 00:30:08,267
No!

479
00:30:09,767 --> 00:30:13,367
It's the little,
dark, agile waitress,
the athlete ballerina

480
00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:16,933
with her deadpan demeanour
who serves them both.

481
00:30:17,067 --> 00:30:20,100
Refusal to smile
explains her style.

482
00:30:20,233 --> 00:30:23,367
That and heavy black eyebrows.

483
00:30:23,500 --> 00:30:25,767
Sea bass for the signora .

484
00:30:25,900 --> 00:30:27,367
Thank you.

485
00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:29,233
And for him,

486
00:30:29,367 --> 00:30:34,133
a wheel of
gloop-smothered dough
singed at the rim.

487
00:30:44,967 --> 00:30:47,200
No swaps this time.

488
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:49,800
Conversation on hold.

489
00:30:49,933 --> 00:30:51,933
The scuffle and
clack of her cutlery

490
00:30:52,067 --> 00:30:55,433
send out signals not
difficult to interpret.

491
00:30:59,733 --> 00:31:01,533
But he's soothed

492
00:31:01,667 --> 00:31:04,733
by the ambient blah.

493
00:31:04,867 --> 00:31:09,667
The big white noise
of a room that's full of
anonymously feeding humans.

494
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:15,067
Even the too-near table
of boisterous boys contributes
to its euphony,

495
00:31:15,167 --> 00:31:17,100
its equilibrium.

496
00:31:17,233 --> 00:31:21,200
There is peace at
the heart of the din,

497
00:31:22,167 --> 00:31:25,333
concord in Babel.

498
00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:28,200
Then a kick on the shin.

499
00:31:28,333 --> 00:31:32,133
This is ground control,
can you hear me?

500
00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:34,700
Loud and clear.

501
00:31:34,833 --> 00:31:36,467
I seem to have
hurt your feelings.

502
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,400
Those old...

503
00:31:38,533 --> 00:31:41,100
I've had my feelings
surgically removed, they can't
be touched by anyone now.

504
00:31:45,067 --> 00:31:46,233
Oh, my dear.

505
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,067
He cannot not feel her
little finger lightly

506
00:31:52,167 --> 00:31:58,467
and with calm rotatory strokes
massage behind his knuckles,

507
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:05,500
then her thumb
shove into his fist
and nuzzle against his palm.

508
00:32:06,333 --> 00:32:08,500
Just what he doesn't want.

509
00:32:08,633 --> 00:32:11,067
The untimely stirring
of what could become

510
00:32:11,133 --> 00:32:14,700
by not so slow
degrees a major bonk.

511
00:32:16,067 --> 00:32:18,567
Not now. Please.

512
00:32:18,700 --> 00:32:21,900
It's like an old,
tired, foolishly
friendly, mostly forgotten dog

513
00:32:22,067 --> 00:32:26,667
that's chosen an awkward
moment to rouse and shake
itself from its basket

514
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,467
and demand a romp.

515
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:34,600
Down boy. Down. Thank you.
Robert Graves. Down, I said.

516
00:32:34,733 --> 00:32:38,300
And he can't be sure
if it's willpower or the wine

517
00:32:38,433 --> 00:32:41,633
but the dog
reluctantly behaves,

518
00:32:41,767 --> 00:32:45,933
retreating to its lonesome
malodorous nest

519
00:32:46,067 --> 00:32:48,800
for another long nap.

520
00:32:49,533 --> 00:32:50,800
Good chap.

521
00:32:51,733 --> 00:32:53,100
Good chap.

522
00:32:59,667 --> 00:33:01,200
(SIGHING)

523
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:12,800
Penny?

524
00:33:15,767 --> 00:33:16,767
Sorry?

525
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,400
Your thoughts.

526
00:33:19,533 --> 00:33:22,633
No, uh, what was I thinking?
Not exactly.

527
00:33:22,767 --> 00:33:28,233
More probing
a mental dimension
beyond time and space.

528
00:33:30,300 --> 00:33:32,167
Typical.

529
00:33:32,300 --> 00:33:36,200
You can't even pay attention
for the few minutes we have.

530
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:38,567
I've come all this way,

531
00:33:38,700 --> 00:33:40,600
dropped my family at
not the most
convenient moment,

532
00:33:40,733 --> 00:33:42,767
hopped on the shuttle,
taken the taxi ride from hell,

533
00:33:42,900 --> 00:33:44,733
convinced at
every traffic light
I'd be late

534
00:33:44,867 --> 00:33:47,233
and here I am all tuned up
for our little reunion

535
00:33:47,367 --> 00:33:51,300
only to find your physical,
guzzling, tippling self
recognisably present,

536
00:33:51,433 --> 00:33:53,200
but your mind appears to have
flitted off on holiday.

537
00:33:53,333 --> 00:33:55,767
You're out to lunch
at your own lunch.

538
00:33:57,733 --> 00:33:59,567
That's nicely put
and no doubt true as well,

539
00:33:59,700 --> 00:34:03,433
the sort of thing they used to
say on my school report,
along with "unteachable"

540
00:34:03,567 --> 00:34:06,533
and "half-witted".
Guzzling's unfair, though.

541
00:34:06,667 --> 00:34:10,400
I really can
manage the rest of this.
"Tippling", however...

542
00:34:14,067 --> 00:34:15,400
I take it...

543
00:34:17,067 --> 00:34:19,633
Antidote to all life's ills.

544
00:34:19,767 --> 00:34:20,833
Are there so many?

545
00:34:20,967 --> 00:34:22,667
Ha! Funny.

546
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,067
I wasn't trying to be.

547
00:34:25,167 --> 00:34:27,433
I suppose in number, not many.

548
00:34:27,567 --> 00:34:29,267
That's reassuring.

549
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:34,300
Just one great big
drink to me only.

550
00:34:35,067 --> 00:34:36,367
(DINER LAUGHING)

551
00:34:39,433 --> 00:34:40,533
Seems to help.

552
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,567
I appear to have lost
my appetite as well.

553
00:34:51,967 --> 00:34:54,267
You'll leave a fishy.

554
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:55,700
Half a fishy.

555
00:34:56,500 --> 00:34:57,733
Sad waste.

556
00:34:58,200 --> 00:34:59,600
Borrow a taste?

557
00:35:00,833 --> 00:35:01,833
Better not.

558
00:35:04,700 --> 00:35:07,267
This hasn't gone
quite as I expected.

559
00:35:08,967 --> 00:35:09,933
(INHALES)

560
00:35:10,067 --> 00:35:13,733
How did you expect it to go?

561
00:35:15,933 --> 00:35:17,467
Oh, I don't know,
more of the old...

562
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:19,900
whatever we had.

563
00:35:20,067 --> 00:35:22,200
Which wasn't bad,

564
00:35:22,767 --> 00:35:24,067
was it?

565
00:35:24,900 --> 00:35:28,567
# We did have fun #

566
00:35:28,700 --> 00:35:29,733
Didn't we?

567
00:35:30,833 --> 00:35:36,067
-We did.
-# Da-da-da and no harm done #

568
00:35:36,167 --> 00:35:38,067
(LAUGHING)

569
00:35:39,867 --> 00:35:43,233
Ahem, till the King of Death
arrived on the scene.

570
00:35:43,367 --> 00:35:46,700
(SNORTING) Or should I say
the King of Prose?

571
00:35:46,833 --> 00:35:49,300
Or should you say nothing?

572
00:35:52,067 --> 00:35:53,633
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

573
00:35:55,067 --> 00:35:56,067
Have you finished?

574
00:35:56,167 --> 00:35:58,100
-One minute.
-Yes. Thank you.

575
00:35:58,233 --> 00:36:00,833
And I believe my friend
has finished with his.

576
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:04,733
Any desserts? Coffee?

577
00:36:05,733 --> 00:36:07,467
Her no, to both.

578
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:12,067
Dully he concurs,
till an idea glows.

579
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:15,367
Glows and grows in the murk
of his brain.

580
00:36:15,500 --> 00:36:19,500
Fine,
fiery, feisty candle flame.

581
00:36:19,633 --> 00:36:24,133
But I think I could handle
a little grappa.

582
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,767
And away he zooms
on waiter business,
waiter among waiters,

583
00:36:31,900 --> 00:36:36,467
zapping and arabesquing
from table to table like bees
between blooms.

584
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,167
Busyness and buzziness.

585
00:36:39,300 --> 00:36:42,167
Now, that busy waitress,
the bee ballerina,

586
00:36:42,300 --> 00:36:45,800
is she sting or
is she sweetness?

587
00:36:47,133 --> 00:36:49,133
Nowhere to be seen.

588
00:36:51,100 --> 00:36:53,067
Where are you this time?

589
00:36:54,067 --> 00:36:55,433
Oh, I'm sorry.

590
00:36:55,567 --> 00:36:57,233
Sorry indeed.

591
00:36:57,367 --> 00:37:01,200
I hadn't expected you to have
gone to seed with
quite such abandon.

592
00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:03,833
Or is this some sort of

593
00:37:03,967 --> 00:37:08,233
cockeyed performance you're
putting on for my
special benefit?

594
00:37:09,633 --> 00:37:12,733
I think I need to
think about that one.

595
00:37:12,867 --> 00:37:16,233
Right, well,
while you're doing that,
I'll tell you what I think.

596
00:37:16,367 --> 00:37:19,533
For which we need to go
back to your poems.

597
00:37:19,667 --> 00:37:22,833
It strikes me you don't
understand them yourself.
They're not about me.

598
00:37:22,967 --> 00:37:27,200
I wasn't the kidnap victim.
It was you who were snatched

599
00:37:27,333 --> 00:37:30,367
and carried
away to some region
of darkness by, oh...

600
00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:32,233
by let's call her
the Queen of the Fairies.

601
00:37:32,367 --> 00:37:34,167
Don't interrupt.
I'm finding
the words as I go along

602
00:37:34,300 --> 00:37:37,167
but when I've stopped,
we'll see if the theory is
up to scrutiny.

603
00:37:37,300 --> 00:37:38,533
Now, according to my logic,

604
00:37:38,667 --> 00:37:40,533
the Eurydice
that you're trying
to rescue

605
00:37:40,667 --> 00:37:42,800
with your brave little song
must be yourself,

606
00:37:42,933 --> 00:37:44,800
your inner self, your soul.

607
00:37:44,933 --> 00:37:48,567
But you've not been
in touch with that
in your entire life.

608
00:37:48,700 --> 00:37:51,733
Which puts you in a hole,
strategically speaking.

609
00:37:51,867 --> 00:37:54,567
And who was it
dumped you there
in the first place?

610
00:37:54,700 --> 00:37:56,067
The kidnapper I
was talking about,

611
00:37:56,167 --> 00:37:58,367
whom I can now reveal
to be the lyric muse,

612
00:37:58,500 --> 00:38:00,367
who should have left you alone
to work out your problems

613
00:38:00,500 --> 00:38:02,400
in some healthier fashion.

614
00:38:02,533 --> 00:38:05,633
And not led you on,
not made you
confuse poetry with therapy.

615
00:38:05,767 --> 00:38:09,367
And who's also to blame
for your present state of
emotional arrest,

616
00:38:09,500 --> 00:38:12,733
infantile truculence and
drunken flippancy.

617
00:38:12,867 --> 00:38:16,267
It's not just that you're
stuck in the past,
you're stuck in your poems.

618
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:21,067
Which have their merits.
They're nicely written,
they're clever and so on

619
00:38:21,167 --> 00:38:23,600
but they're misconceived,
false,

620
00:38:24,700 --> 00:38:26,200
hollow, wrong.

621
00:38:26,333 --> 00:38:29,333
You should never
have gone there.

622
00:38:29,467 --> 00:38:33,400
Yet you did.
That's the catastrophe.
That's the disaster.

623
00:38:37,300 --> 00:38:41,067
You're going to
have to repeat that.
I want to write it down.

624
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,767
Especially the bit about
flippulant, yes.

625
00:38:45,100 --> 00:38:47,133
What? I'm perfectly serious.

626
00:38:50,433 --> 00:38:53,600
The Oracle eyes appear
to have tears in them,

627
00:38:53,733 --> 00:38:56,233
but too proud to fall.

628
00:38:58,167 --> 00:39:00,567
Ever the escape artist.

629
00:39:00,700 --> 00:39:02,100
Ever the clown.

630
00:39:08,633 --> 00:39:11,067
Nip of grappa.

631
00:39:11,167 --> 00:39:13,800
Distillation of grape pips.

632
00:39:13,933 --> 00:39:19,633
Sits on the tongue a moment,
transmitting warmth
to the outer limbs,

633
00:39:19,767 --> 00:39:23,567
then slips to its doom.

634
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,067
No, I'm sure you're right.

635
00:39:34,567 --> 00:39:37,767
My little book was a
great big bag of shite,

636
00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:42,967
when I thought I was writing
hymns to your sublime beauty
and our lost love.

637
00:39:43,100 --> 00:39:46,600
Thank you for the elucidation.
Now, if you'd excuse me,

638
00:39:46,733 --> 00:39:49,500
I need to find my way to the
little girls',
sorry, not funny,

639
00:39:49,633 --> 00:39:51,333
little boys' room.

640
00:39:55,067 --> 00:39:59,233
The big noisy boys are
getting up to leave so he
chooses a roundabout route,

641
00:39:59,367 --> 00:40:05,000
taking care from a safe but
visible distance to throw
them a killer glare.

642
00:40:05,133 --> 00:40:07,200
One of them catches it.

643
00:40:07,333 --> 00:40:09,100
Baffled.

644
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:16,933
The gents,
he doesn't need the arrow,

645
00:40:17,067 --> 00:40:19,600
is along the passage and down
some narrow steps

646
00:40:19,733 --> 00:40:22,400
that tip him in

647
00:40:22,533 --> 00:40:25,133
faster than calculated.

648
00:40:27,667 --> 00:40:29,700
But he's made it.

649
00:40:29,833 --> 00:40:32,400
Knows at once
the old chemical fragrance

650
00:40:32,533 --> 00:40:36,267
which only partially smothers
the jabbing kidney reek

651
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:39,267
that proclaims
all men brothers.

652
00:40:41,767 --> 00:40:45,667
And there's
the familiar porcelain
goblet with its ancient stains

653
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,267
and crazed glaze.

654
00:40:51,900 --> 00:40:53,733
It is while he is standing,

655
00:40:53,867 --> 00:40:59,267
watching his yellow stream
slither sluggishly away
along the gulley

656
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,833
that he conceives his scheme

657
00:41:05,567 --> 00:41:09,400
to find
the dark-browed waitress,

658
00:41:09,533 --> 00:41:13,500
to find her and
ask her to marry him.

659
00:41:14,533 --> 00:41:16,167
(ZIPPERING)

660
00:41:16,300 --> 00:41:19,667
Once out the door
and up the short
flight past the ladies,

661
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:22,833
then left again down
the doorless
corridor with, at the end,

662
00:41:22,967 --> 00:41:25,367
a longer flight to a
windowed half-landing

663
00:41:25,500 --> 00:41:27,500
view of
brickwork and drainpipes.

664
00:41:27,633 --> 00:41:29,733
Turn about and aided
by a shaky handrail

665
00:41:29,867 --> 00:41:33,600
up to the first floor,
two doors both rattled,
both locked.

666
00:41:33,733 --> 00:41:37,600
Then up,
up, up by steeper steps
and odder odours...

667
00:41:37,733 --> 00:41:39,333
(DOOR OPENING)

668
00:41:39,933 --> 00:41:41,667
...to the very top.

669
00:41:53,567 --> 00:41:55,067
He sits.

670
00:41:59,667 --> 00:42:03,767
An erupting pigeon briefly
interrupts, otherwise...

671
00:42:05,367 --> 00:42:06,433
silence.

672
00:42:08,433 --> 00:42:10,067
Non-event.

673
00:42:10,167 --> 00:42:12,600
(HEARTBEAT POUNDING)

674
00:42:21,933 --> 00:42:24,467
Now he can't
decide whether to weep

675
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:27,467
or sleep.

676
00:43:50,067 --> 00:43:52,567
(VEHICLES HONKING IN DISTANCE)

677
00:44:06,300 --> 00:44:10,400
He is woken up by somebody
waking up inside him,

678
00:44:10,533 --> 00:44:13,167
abruptly and roughly.

679
00:44:13,300 --> 00:44:15,700
After some seconds ugly tussle

680
00:44:15,833 --> 00:44:18,367
he identifies his assailant

681
00:44:20,633 --> 00:44:22,800
as himself.

682
00:44:24,733 --> 00:44:26,333
They reach an agreement,

683
00:44:26,467 --> 00:44:30,500
encourage each
other to consciousness
and become one.

684
00:44:32,733 --> 00:44:36,667
What is he doing crouched
on this high shelf?

685
00:44:40,133 --> 00:44:43,067
The brick view
illuminates nothing

686
00:44:43,167 --> 00:44:44,867
but a wheedling smell,

687
00:44:45,067 --> 00:44:47,767
mixture of kitchen wafts
and structural mildew

688
00:44:47,900 --> 00:44:50,333
helps him to recall...

689
00:44:55,267 --> 00:44:56,400
lunch!

690
00:44:58,267 --> 00:44:59,367
Oh!

691
00:45:01,667 --> 00:45:06,767
Nicely judged lurches
propel him down to
the ground floor.

692
00:45:06,900 --> 00:45:11,700
And a more stately progress,

693
00:45:11,833 --> 00:45:16,500
just once
cannoning off the wall,
brings him back

694
00:45:17,267 --> 00:45:18,867
to the restaurant,

695
00:45:19,067 --> 00:45:21,733
now almost deserted.

696
00:45:21,867 --> 00:45:23,500
That's his table over there.

697
00:45:24,700 --> 00:45:26,200
Unoccupied.

698
00:45:27,300 --> 00:45:29,133
Less than an hour has passed,

699
00:45:29,267 --> 00:45:32,933
but he might have died
and be returning as a ghost.

700
00:45:33,067 --> 00:45:36,067
The lady, she go.
You no come back.

701
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:42,533
No, no, no, no. She pay.

702
00:45:42,667 --> 00:45:46,533
Airy hesitation.
He tucks his wallet away.

703
00:45:46,667 --> 00:45:48,100
Was she...

704
00:45:49,367 --> 00:45:51,167
Was she angry?

705
00:45:51,300 --> 00:45:53,133
Big shrug,
big shake of the head.

706
00:45:53,267 --> 00:45:55,067
Comical, big-mouthed grimace.

707
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,767
Wouldn't care to say,
same as enough said.

708
00:45:59,300 --> 00:46:03,633
Look! They've looked
after his shoulder bag.

709
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,633
Now he is saddled
and ready to depart.

710
00:46:13,767 --> 00:46:17,867
But first, a last goodbye
to the old place.

711
00:46:18,067 --> 00:46:22,167
Nothing more empty
than a room
full of tables laid

712
00:46:23,067 --> 00:46:24,667
but without occupants.

713
00:46:28,167 --> 00:46:29,500
No, wait.

714
00:46:31,067 --> 00:46:33,200
There's someone
seated by the window.

715
00:46:33,933 --> 00:46:36,133
A very old man.

716
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,100
Parchment face,

717
00:46:38,233 --> 00:46:42,067
sparse white hairs combed
in strict parallels,

718
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,167
blind,
staring eyes, black tie,
black suit.

719
00:46:45,300 --> 00:46:49,500
Rigid as a cadaver from
some Sicilian catacomb.

720
00:46:49,633 --> 00:46:52,167
Husk of life.

721
00:46:52,300 --> 00:46:55,367
Without sap, without savour.

722
00:46:55,500 --> 00:46:56,667
Nudge him,

723
00:46:57,533 --> 00:46:58,533
he'll crumble.

724
00:47:02,700 --> 00:47:04,633
As he turns to go,

725
00:47:04,767 --> 00:47:08,200
the recognition pierces him.

726
00:47:12,767 --> 00:47:14,133
Massimo.