Youth Page #6

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Fred takes a step in the direction of the sound, but it stops

again.

11.

He is about to keep walking when he encounters his reflection

in a mirror. He touches a sunspot on his temple, which he

notices for the first time there in the mirror.

5. INT. MICK BOYLE’S SUITE. NIGHT

Those same violin notes start up again, but extra-diegetic

now, and perfectly executed. They give life to a soft,

melancholic music.

We’re in a room where confusion reigns: papers and notes

spread all over the place, laptop computers left open and

forgotten. Five kids - four guys and a girl - all under

thirty, are sleeping, curled up in armchairs scattered here

and there, and on the bed. They are sleeping the sleep of the

just.

Fred Ballinger and another elderly man are standing in the

room, he too about eighty years old, still attractive, his

hair a little long, his bright, sparkling eyes omnivorous and

full of life. His name is Mick Boyle.

The two old men silently observe the sleeping kids. The

violin vanishes. After a while.

FRED BALLINGER:

Did you take a piss today?

MICK BOYLE:

Twice. Four drops. You?

FRED BALLINGER:

Same. More or less.

MICK BOYLE:

More or less?

FRED BALLINGER:

Less.

MICK BOYLE:

Look how beautiful they are.

FRED BALLINGER:

Beautiful, yes.

MICK BOYLE:

If you only knew how moving it is

to see them working on the

screenplay. They’re so passionate.

FRED BALLINGER:

They’ve caught your passion.

MICK BOYLE:

And have you lost yours?

12.

Fred just shrugs.

Mick, with what is clearly a habitual gesture, smooths his

hair across his forehead with the palm of his hand, and then

changes the subject.

MICK BOYLE (CONT'D)

See those two?

He points to the girl and one of the guys, who are sleeping

on opposite sides of the room.

FRED BALLINGER:

Of course I see them.

MICK BOYLE:

They're falling in love, but they

don't know it yet.

The girl, her eyes still closed, gives a smile that no one

sees. Because she’s not asleep.

FRED BALLINGER:

How do you know?

MICK BOYLE:

(reflects)I know because I know

everything there is to know about

love.

FRED BALLINGER:

Then you'll have to give me lessons

one of these days.

MICK BOYLE:

It's late now.

Have you heard the latest? Joyce

Owens, Miss Universe, is coming to

stay. Apparently one of her prizes

is a free week in our hotel.

FRED BALLINGER:

Yeah, I heard. But it seems more

like a punishment than a prize to

me.

MICK BOYLE:

Which is just how it should be.

Some forms of beauty have to be

punished, to make life bearable for

the rest of us.

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