
American Beauty
(3.67 / 3 votes)INT. FITTS HOUSE - RICKY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
On VIDEO:
JANE BURNHAM lays in bed, wearing a tank top. She'ssixteen, with dark, intense eyes.
JANE:
I need a father who's a role model,
not some horny geek-boy who's gonna
spray his shorts whenever I bring a
girlfriend home from school.
(snorts)
What a lame-o. Somebody really should
put him out of his misery.
Her mind wanders for a beat.
RICKY (O.S.)
Want me to kill him for you?
Jane looks at us and sits up.
JANE:
(deadpan)
Yeah, would you?
FADE TO BLACK:
FADE IN:
EXT. ROBIN HOOD TRAIL - EARLY MORNING
We're FLYING above suburban America, DESCENDING SLOWLY toward
a tree-lined street.
LESTER (V.O.)
My name is Lester Burnham. This is
my neighborhood. This is my street.
This... is my life. I'm forty-two
years old. In less than a year, I'll
be dead.
INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS
We're looking down at a king-sized BED from OVERHEAD:
LESTER BURNHAM lies sleeping amidst expensive bed linens,
face down, wearing PAJAMAS. An irritating ALARM CLOCK RINGS.
Lester gropes blindly to shut it off.
LESTER (V.O.)
Of course, I don't know that yet.
He rolls over, looks up at us and sighs. He doesn't seem too
thrilled at the prospect of a new day.
LESTER (V.O.)
And in a way, I'm dead already.
He sits up and puts on his slippers.
INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BATH - MOMENTS LATER
Lester thrusts his face directly into a steaming hot shower.
ANGLE from outside the shower: Lester's naked body is
silhouetted through the fogged-up glass door. It becomes
apparent he is masturbating.
LESTER (V.O.)
(amused)
Look at me, jerking off in the shower.
(then)
This will be the high point of my
day. It's all downhill from here.
EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER
CLOSE on a single, dewy AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE. A gloved hand
with CLIPPERS appears and SNIPS the flower off.
CAROLYN BURNHAM tends her rose bushes in front of the Burnham
house. A very well-put together woman of forty, she wears
color-coordinated gardening togs and has lots of useful and
expensive tools.
Lester watches her through a WINDOW on the first floor,
peeping out through the drapes.
LESTER (V.O.)
That's my wife Carolyn. See the way
the handle on those pruning shears
matches her gardening clogs? That's
not an accident.
EXT. JIMS' HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
In the fenced front yard of the house next door, a dog BARKS
repeatedly. A MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #1) chastises
the barking dog.
JIM #1
Hush, Bitsy. You hush. What is wrong?
LESTER (V.O.)
That's our next-door neighbor Jim.
A second MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #2) comes out of
the house.
LESTER (V.O.)
And that's his lover, Jim.
JIM #2
(re:
barking dog)What in the world is wrong with her?
She had a walk this morning.
JIM #1
And a jerky treat.
JIM #2
You spoil her.
(sternly)
Bitsy. No bark. Come inside. Now.
EXT. BURNHAM HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
Lester watches all this from the window.
CAROLYN:
Good morning, Jim!
Jim #1 walks toward the fence to greet Carolyn.
JIM #1
Morning, Carolyn.
CAROLYN:
(overly friendly)
I just love your tie! That color!
JIM #1
I just love your roses. How do you
get them to flourish like this?
CAROLYN:
Well, I'll tell you. Egg shells and
Miracle Grow.
Jim #1 and Carolyn continue to chat, unaware that Lester is
watching them.
LESTER (V.O.)
Man. I get exhausted just watching
her.
Lester's POV:
We can't hear what Jim and Carolyn are saying,but she's overly animated, like a TV talk show host.
LESTER (V.O.)
She wasn't always like this. She
used to be happy. We used to be happy.
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"American Beauty" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 6 Feb. 2023. <https://www.scripts.com/script/american_beauty_170>.
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