English Audio Request

Scene IV – Garden Walk A La Promenade Plantée

Location notes: the garden walk takes place at la Promenade Plantée, which is atop the Viaduc des Arts, on Avenue Daumesnil. It is located in the 12th arrondissement, and is therefore a 25-30 min. walk from Le Pure Café, not right around the corner as implied by the editing of the film. Metro: Bastille stop on lines 1, 5, 8.

(As of this revision, we do not yet know the exact location of the staircases used by Jesse and Céline to enter and exit the promenade. Please post updates to yahoogroups.)

Jesse: Alright, that sounds better than shopping, actually. I mean, not that I wouldn't do whatever you wanted.

Céline: You know, sometimes I don't even need to buy anything. I just get high on trying on and looking at things.

Jesse: Yeah, well a therapist would tell you...Is this where we're going?

Céline: Yeah! (They begin to climb the stairs.)

Jesse: A therapist would tell you it's all good.

Céline: Really?

Jesse: Yeah.

Céline: Are you ever in therapy?

Jesse: Oh, no. Do I seem like I'm in therapy?

Céline: (Laughs.) I'm kidding. Has it helped your sex problems?

Jesse: My SEX problems?

Céline: No, I'm kidding.

Jesse: No, c’mon, tell me the truth. I mean, we didn't have any problems that night.

Céline: No, I'm kidding! (He brushes her hair away from her eyes.) We didn't even have sex, anyway.

Jesse: But, that's a joke, right?

Céline: No, we didn't! I mean, that was the whole thing.

Jesse: No, of course we did!

Céline: No, no, no, no, we didn't. You didn't have a condom, and I never have sex without one. Especially on a one night thing. I mean, I'm extremely paranoid about my health. There's no way I would have...

Jesse: (Stops climbing the stairs, and holds his hands up. Céline turns to face him.) Whoa, I find this very scary that you don't remember what happened.

Céline: What? (Turns away and starts climbing again. Jesse follows.) No, listen, OK...I didn't write an entire book, but I kept a journal, OK? And I wrote the whole night in it. That's what I mean, you idealizing the night!

Jesse: Alright, listen! I even remember what brand of condom we used.

Céline: OK, that's disgusting. I don't want to hear it!

Jesse: It's not disgusting.

Céline: OK, you know what, when I get home, I'll check my journal from '94, but I know I'm right! (Jesse shakes his head quietly while she pauses for a moment and slows down.) Wait a minute...

Jesse: What?

Céline: Was it in the cemetery?

Jesse: No...no, we went to the cemetery in the afternoon, it was in a park. VERY late at night? In the park.

Céline: (Hand to forehead.) Wait a minute.

Jesse: (Shakes his head in disgust.) I can’t…I can’t…

Céline: (Shakes her head as if trying to remember.) No…

Jesse: Is it that forgettable? I mean, you really don't remember...(clapping hands together for emphasis) in the park!

Céline: OK, wait a minute. I...I think you might be right.

Jesse: Alright now, you're messing with me, now. Are you messing with me?

Céline: OK, no, I'm sorry! I think you...I mean, you're right, OK? Sometimes, I put things in drawers inside my head, and forget about it. (Jesse covers his eyes to show frustration.) I guess it's less painful to put certain things away than to live with it! I'm sorry!

Jesse: So that...that night was a sad memory for you?

Céline: No, I didn't mean that night in particular. I just meant certain things are better off forgotten.

Jesse: I remember that night better than I do entire years.

Céline: Me too.

Jesse: (Sarcastically.) Really?

Céline: Well, I thought I did...But, maybe I...Maybe I put it away because of the fact that...my grandmother's funeral was the day we were supposed to meet again.

Jesse: Yeah, right, it was a tough day for me, but it must have been worse for you.

Céline: It was unreal. I remember looking at her dead body in the coffin. (Sighs.) Her beautiful hands so warm, so sweet, that used to hold me, that...Nothing in that coffin resembled what I remembered of her. All the warmth was gone. Then I was crying...so confused if I was crying because I was never gonna see her again and never gonna see...(sighs) you again. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to go on like this, I've been a little down this week, I don't know.

Jesse: Why?

Céline: I don't know, nothing bad, just... reading your book, maybe? No, but...thinking about how hopeful I was that summer and fall, and since then it's been kind of a...I don't know. Memory is a wonderful thing, if you don't have to, uh, deal with the past.

Jesse: “Memory is a wonderful thing, if you don't have to deal with the past.” Can I put that on a bumper sticker? No, you know what? If you wrote a book about our night, that would be a good title!

Céline: Yeah, it could be a totally different book.

Jesse: Yeah, there'd be no sex scenes. (Céline laughs.)

Céline: But you know what?

Jesse: What?

Céline: Now that we've met again, we can change our memory of that December 16th. It no longer has that sad ending of us never seeing each other again. Right?

Jesse: Yeah, you’re right. I guess a memory is never finished. As long as you're alive...

Céline: Yeah, I know. I have this memory from my childhood, that I realized recently, never happened.

Jesse: What?

Céline: Well, when I was 8 or 9, my mom was so paranoid when I was walking home, from my piano lesson at night. She would always warn me about dirty old men, giving me candies, and then showing me their peepees. She was so obsessed with it, that later in life, you know, I had...I had this image in my head that this really happened. To the point that I even associated sex with that walk home. I mean, sometimes, even now, when I'm...(sighs and laughs) when I'm…when I’m having sex, I see myself walking down that street. I swear! (Laughs.) It's so weird, right?

Jesse: Well, is that street nearby? I mean, could...

Céline: NO. (Laughs.) Very far. Did you ever keep a journal when you were a kid?

Jesse: Um, yeah...On and off, I guess.

Céline: It's funny, I read a...one of mine from '83, the other day.

Jesse: Yeah?

Céline: And, what really surprised me, is that I was feeling with life, the same way am now. I was much more hopeful and naive, but the core, and the way I was feeling things, is exactly the same. It made me realize I haven't changed much at all.

Jesse: Yeah, I don't think anybody does; people don't want to admit it, but it's like we just...we have these innate set points.

Céline: Uh-huh.

Jesse: You know, it's like...nothing much that happens to us changes our disposition.

Céline: Really, you believe that?

Jesse: I think so. I read this study where they followed people who had won the lottery, and people who had become paraplegics, right. I mean you'd think that...you know, one extreme is gonna make you...euphoric, and the other suicidal. But the study shows that after about 6 months…

Céline: Uhum?

Jesse: Right...as soon as people got used to their new situation, they were more or less the same.

Céline: The same?

Jesse: Well, yeah...Like if they were basically an optimistic, jovial person, they're now an optimistic, jovial person, in a wheelchair. If they're a petty miserable asshole, OK, they're a petty miserable asshole with a new Cadillac, a house and a boat.

Céline: So, you’ll now be forever depressed, no matter what great things happen in my life?

Jesse: Definitely.

Céline: Great! (Laughs.)

Jesse: No, c’mon...Are you depressed now?

Céline: No, no, I'm not depressed. But, sometimes I worry that I'll get to the end of my life feeling I haven't done all I've all I wanted to do.

Jesse: Oh, what do you wanna do?

Céline: (Sighs.) I, um, I want to paint more, I wanna...play my guitar everyday, I wanna learn Chinese, I wanna write more songs...There're so many things I wanna do, and end up doing not much.

Jesse: (Laughs.) Alright well, well let me ask you this: do you believe in, like... ghosts or spirits?

Céline: Um, no.

Jesse: No?

Céline: No.

Jesse: OK, uh, what about reincarnation?

Céline: Not at all.

Jesse: God?

Céline: No. (They both laugh.) That sounds…that sounds terrible. No, no, no. But, at the same time I don't wanna be one of those people that don't believe in any kind of magic, you know.

Jesse: So then, astrology.

Céline: Yes, of course!

Jesse: There we go, right!

Céline: I mean, that makes sense, right? You're a Scorpio, I'm a Sag, so we get along. (They both laugh.) No! No, no…There's a…an Einstein quote I really, really like. He said, um: "If you don't believe in any kind of magic, or mystery, you’re basically as good as dead."

Jesse: Yeah, I like that. I've always felt there was some kind of mystical core to the universe. You know that…More recently, I started to think that...that me...you know, my personality, whatever, that...I don't have any permanent place here. You know, in eternity, or whatever, you know. And the more I think that, I can't go through life saying that this is no big deal, you know. (Punches his right fist into left hand for emphasis.) I mean, this is it! This is actually happening. What do you... think is interesting, what do you think is funny, what do you think is important? You know, every day is our last.

Céline: When I feel that way, I...usually call my mom to tell her how much I love her.

Jesse: Yeah.

Céline: And she's always: "Are you OK? Do you have cancer? (Jesse laughs.) Are you going to commit suicide?" It's almost not worth it. (Laughs and looks at Jesse.) So, uh…So what about us?

Jesse: What about us?

(At this exact moment, the man in the red shirt and sunglasses gets up from a bench on Jesse’s right and starts to walk toward them. The camera is behind them when he appears. The camera cuts to the front view of Jesse and Céline, but the man in red does not appear for nearly 6 seconds after the cut. We have unconfirmed reports that he stopped to tie his shoe.)

Céline: No, what I mean is, if we were both going to die, tonight…

Jesse: What, like if the Apocalypse was coming?

Céline: No, no, that's too dramatic. But, what if... you know, just the two of us were going to die. I mean, would we talk about your book, the environment or...

Jesse: If today was our last day?

Céline: Yeah, what would we talk about, what would you tell me, for example?

Jesse: Well...

Céline: That's hard.

Jesse: No, I'll do it, I'll do it. I definitely... would stop talking about my book. I have to admit I would probably drop the environment. But, I would still...want to talk about, you know, magic and the universe. I'd just wanna do it from a...

Céline: What?

Jesse: ...a hotel room. You know? In between sessions of us, uh wildly fucking, until we die.

Céline: Wow?! Well, why waste time with an hotel room? Why not do it right there…(motioning) on a bench?

Jesse: (Grabs her by the left wrist and drags her to the bench, sitting down while he puts her on his lap.) Come here, come here...

Céline: No! (Covers her eyes and whimpers in mock horror.) OK. We're not gonna die tonight. OK?

Jesse: Alright, too bad.

Céline. Yeah.

Jesse: I'm sorry.

Céline: (Gets off his lap, and sits on the bench on Jesse’s left.) That was…an extreme example.

Jesse: I'm sorry.

Céline: OK. What I...My point was, you know, to truly communicate with people is very hard to do.

Jesse: No, I know, I mean most of our...most of our day to day exchanges…

Céline: Yeah, I know, I mean... not to bring everything back to sex.

Jesse: But, why not?

Céline: No, no, this example, this friend of mine, she...she was talking about..she and her boyfriend…problems in bed.

Jesse: Right?

Céline: And, uh, how when, they had been dating for a year, she started telling him what he could do to please her more. And it totally freaked him out.

Jesse: Why?

Céline: Totally. Well, he felt all threatened and he thought he was a bad lover.

Jesse: Maybe she shouldn't have waited so long. You know, after a year…

Céline: Well, yeah, but, men are so easily offended!

Jesse: Oh, what, more than women, you think?

Céline: Oh, definitely on that subject!

Jesse: You think so?

Céline: Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, maybe it's because, you know...men are...easier to...you know...to please.

Jesse: (At the same time.) To please?

Céline: Well, I don't know...

Jesse: Yeah, they are, they definitely...definitely.

Céline: Anyway, this friend of mine, she was telling me that, um, next time she dates another man, she's gonna make a little questionnaire, about what they like and dislike, before they even...

Jesse: Oh, like written down, or out loud?

Céline: Yeah, yeah, written down, mostly written down. But it wouldn't be just...you know, yes or no, it would be a little more complex than that. Like for example, if the question is: "Are you into S&M?" The answer could be, "No, but, a good spanking once in a while doesn't hurt." (Jesse laughs.) Right?

Jesse: Right. Or like, uh, what, "So do you like talking dirty in bed?" That kind of thing?

Céline: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but not just like...any dirty talk. Just like: "What specific word would you like to hear?" You know, like...

Jesse: What, me?

Céline: Well, yeah. Like, for example, like what specific word would you like to hear?

Jesse: I don't know...

Céline: Um...what do you feel about the word "Pussy"? (Gestures as if writing the word.)

Jesse: I...LOVE…IT.

Céline: Good. (Laughs.) It's amazing what...perverts we've become in the past 9 years.

Jesse: I know, I know. Well, at least now we don't have to pretend that each new sexual experience is like a life-altering event.

Céline: I know, by now, I know you've stuck it in so many places, it's like, about to fall off.

Jesse: I mean, you know, I can't realistically expect you to have become anything but a total ho’, at this point.

Céline: Yeah, thank you.

Jesse: (Laughs.) No, I'm sor...

Céline: That's true, what can you do?

Jesse: What can you do? (Both look away for a moment.) So...what kind of songs do you write? I didn't know you did that.

Céline: What kind?

Jesse: Yeah, sure.

Céline: I don't know, just songs. Like some are about, you know, people, um, relationships. One's about my cat.

Jesse: Sing one! Just...

Céline: No, I can't, I don't have a guitar.

Jesse: Oh, I mean, come on, a capella.

Céline: No, no, no. No, no, no, I'm not singing a song without a guitar, you're nuts!

Jesse: (In mock disbelief.) Why not? (Céline laughs.)

Céline: No, OK, not now.

Jesse: One! (Holds up his finger.)

Céline: No.

Jesse: If not now, when? You want to meet here in six months, with a guitar? You know, I'll fly all they way over here, you may or may not make the metro...

Céline: OK, that's... that's funny. That’s really no…(Stands up suddenly from the bench, and extends her left hand.) We've got to get going back to the bookstore!

Jesse: (Looks at his watch.) What, we’ve got…

Céline: You'll miss your flight. Come on, let's go! (Takes him by the left hand, and pulls him up off the bench.)

Jesse: Alright, alright.

Céline: We can walk down la Seine. It's…it’s a nice thing. (A jogger runs past them.) So, you're flying back to New York?

Jesse: Yeah, yeah.

Céline: So I read in that article that you're married, with a kid. That's great!

Jesse: Yeah, he's um…He's 4.

Céline: Uhum, what's his name?

Jesse: Henry. Little Hank, he's so much fun.

Céline: Oh, wow, I'm sure. (They reach some stairs and start to walk down.) And, your wife, what does she do?

Jesse: She teaches elementary school. Do you…do you have kids?

Céline: Yes, two…Shit! (Stops and grabs the railing.)

Jesse: What?

Céline: I left them in the car! With the windows up, it was 6 months ago. (Jesse laughs.) No, I'm kidding. (They start climbing down again.) No, but um...(Jesse climbs onto the railing, and begins sliding down with his feet first.) I want to have kids someday, I'm just not ready, yet.

Jesse: (Still sliding down the railing.) Yeah?

Céline: Yeah, I'm in a good relationship, though.

Jesse: Oh, yeah? That's good.

Céline: Yeah.

Jesse: What's he do?

Céline: He's a photojournalist. He does, uh, war coverage. He's away a lot, which in a way is good for me, because I'm so busy. (They reach the bottom of the stairs and continue walking.)

Location notes: at this point, the camera cuts to Jesse and Céline walking along la Seine on the Left Bank. The scene has jumped from the 12th arrondissement to the 5th, not far from the bookstore. In reality, you would need to walk 20-25 min. from la Promenade Plantée to reach this point. Behind them, Pont de la Tournelle is visible.