Original subtitles

We're not filmmakers, you know?

We're just... We're just a... a ragbag bunch of people

doing something that is technologically already almost passe.

You know, that's a great problem of movies,

is that they're always old-fashioned.

It takes too long to make a movie.

By the time your idea's on the screen, it's already dead.

♪ Someone to love

♪ Someone who wants to reach out

♪ The show will be on ♪

Okay, kiddo.

Gotta go to sleep.

What do you mean, you gotta go to sleep?

I gotta get up real early in the morning tomorrow morning.

You know, I have, like, an 8:00 call.

Okay, so you look good, get up early. We'll get up early.

I'm not gonna be able to go to sleep if you're here.

Why not?

This is the third time you've told me this.

I'm sorry but I just...

When are you gonna be able to go to sleep with me here?

Don't you think getting to know...

I just learned to sleep by myself.

It was very hard to learn to sleep by myself

and now I know how to do it.

And, you know, I sleep right here.

I got this side of the bed. It's comfortable.

Shh. I know. I know all about it. I'm sorry.

I know that it would be nicer,

it would be better in every way

if I could feel comfortable and I could have you sleep over,

and it would be easy for me, but it just isn't easy.

Okay, okay, okay. I'm sorry. I am, but...

Maybe... Maybe just, um...

You'll fall asleep with me here, then I'll... I'll creep out.

Be nice, warm.

I'm just afraid that I won't fall asleep in the first place.

Look, not everybody wants a white picket fence, you know?

I just... Everyone should, you know.

It's not very romantic.

We've all been taught in school, and we all take our hats off

to the Founding Fathers' notion

that all men are created equal.

We now have to face the fact that all men and women are created equal.

And, we have swallowed that, bitter pill,

and found that it went down perfectly easily.

I'm alone now.

I'm finally learning how to do it and it makes me comfortable.

I've known you for almost half a year. I like to wake up alone.

We've never stayed over at each other's place yet.

Do you think that's okay?

But there has been a kind of pollution,

which is a strong word, but still it is a sort of pollution.

The idea that... That,

we are a single

animal,

male and female.

And that the difference is negligible.

I don't think it's... it's terrible to want to sleep by yourself.

I feel more comfortable that way. I'm not talking about...

I wake up alone. I have my own cup of coffee.

It's easy for me.

I understand that. Look, I understand that.

I'm not talking about moving in, you know.

I was just talking about sleeping over.

It just seems to me a little strange

that you get up, you brush your teeth, you get rid of me,

and you want your own little world here.

I don't understand it so...

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

Come here.

I'm sorry, baby.

I'm enjoying getting to know you.

Women are occupying an entirely new position in society.

Occupying it by force of a revolution,

which they may eventually lose.

But on the other hand, they may win it.

And if they win it completely,

who is to say that democracy will result,

and that the spouse may not be created again,

and that we will be the spouse?

I'm gonna see you the day after tomorrow, right?

Okay.

You scared of having to brush your teeth again, or what?

You're not giving me a real kiss

because you've brushed your teeth.

I swear to God, that's what I think is happening.

No, I'm not giving you a real kiss

because it's time for me to go to sleep.

Well, maybe you don't wanna go to sleep.

No, maybe I need to go to sleep.

As the world gets more and more populated,

and there's less and less room,

and the... the apartments in which marriages are supposed to work

get smaller and smaller,

more and more people are gonna rush out in the street

and kill everybody they can find.

What a great view you got here.

Thought I'd never see LA from up here, you know.

I'm always down there

and I never realized there was anything to look at at all.

Yeah.

But the weather, that's what's so terrific here,

is this great weather.

Yeah. It's nothing new, is it?

Well, I'm going to take advantage of it and go down and get a swim

or at least sit by the pool, anyway.

In February? Are you nuts?

To me it's freezing.

So what are you doing out here?

Business, as usual.

Real estate business....

Anything I should know about?

Since you've taken so much interest

in our business up to now?

Well, you're taking care of it for me. I know it's in good hands

and I don't have to worry about it.

It's a very nice feeling.

So you can just loaf out here. I'm not loafing.

I'm hardly loafing. I'm working very hard.

You're working? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I know. Art isn't work to you, right?

Film isn't work. Creative work doesn't count.

You're like Daddy, you know.

Sure, you... you have to get up

and go to the office every morning at 9:00.

Then you'll understand what work is. Yeah.

You have to be on a set 12, 14, 16 hours a day, you'll understand...

That's play. That's play.

And trying to figure out how everything should work.

Sure. Yeah, sure.

Are you happy?

Just the general philosophical question for a yes and no answer?

No, no, no. I mean, have you found somebody you...

I haven't seen you in so long.

I never get to see you anymore

now that we live on opposite coasts.

And, you know, talking on the phone,

I can't get an impression from you.

You always say you're okay.

You don't say "good," you don't say "bad," and I can't tell.

Well, you know, I'm staying reasonably healthy physically,

and I keep in good shape. No, no, I don't care about that.

How are you, you know...

Are you ever gonna get married?

I tried it, at least, you know. I mean, it didn't work...

Well, I'd like to try it, you know.

I'd like to, even short of that,

try just having a regular consistent relationship with one woman,

but I always get messed up. There's something...

There's something about me that's just, it doesn't work out.

I mean, how can it be that it doesn't work out?

There's something in me that spoils it from working out.

Like what? You know, well, like, I do things

that make it not work in the first place.

Like, I have these many relationships with married women that...

Then when they leave, I'm lonely.

And if I like one of them, then it's even worse.

And, um, then if I go out with women where they would be available,

where it would be suitable to have a relationship,

I... I do something to mess it up.

Like I do it with two of them at once.

And... And try to keep the two things going.

You can't just schedule 'em right.

So sometimes I... I have to try to get out of seeing somebody

because I'm supposed to be seeing somebody else.

Sometimes I'm not seeing anybody,

and then I don't know what to do with myself, so I'm lonely.

And then when I'm with 'em, I'm lonely anyway.

So it's... It's... I don't know. It's, um...

And I always tell myself, you know,

I'm really going to try to stop doing these things, and find...

I got a great idea. While you're out here,

why don't we have a party for you?

A party for the objective of me to meet people?

I mean that's... Yeah, I won't tell.

That would make me very uncomfortable,

you know, that that's the reason...

I won't tell them that that's the reason.

We'll say we're just having a party

and I'll introduce you to a lot of people.

I've got a lot of terrific women friends, you know,

and they've all gone through the same kind of thing.

They can't seem to get relationships going. I don't know why.

Everybody I know, you know, is in the exact same condition,

in one way or another.

None of them quite as weird as you.

These are all actresses, writers, film people, artists.

Okay, you know my opinion of actresses. I mean, you know, they... they...

I don't care about your opinion. I don't wanna get back

to your obnoxious behavior about my life and...

My obnoxious behavior? Yeah, your obnoxious behavior.

I don't want you starting criticizing my friends

before you've even met them.

I've met some of them before, remember?

Look, I don't want to go into this now.

This is ridiculous. I'm trying to help you.

I'm suggesting that you can meet a lot of terrific women.

And I would like to arrange a party for you while you're here.

It just occurred to me that it was a great idea.

And right away you're already telling me

that they're obnoxious and phony.

They don't have to be actresses.

There are all kinds of people who are directors,

who are producers, who work in production,

who are artists, who are painters. Okay, if you have a party,

but don't tell them it's for me or something like that.

Everybody I know is divorced or hasn't gotten married yet.

None of us have settled into what we thought grown-up life was about

when we were children.

Actually, I... I met a girl recently, a woman, a few months ago

and I've been having a kind of interesting relationship with her.

But, you know, it's weird. It's just very weird now.

Relationships are so strange.

Because nobody wants to commit to anything,

and she's very scared to even begin to commit

because she's just settled into a life on her own

after a certain amount of time of being in a relationship.

And I... I'm... You know me, I'm always looking at what I'm doing.

I've got a camera outside of me watching me do what I'm doing,

while I'm doing it.

There's always a... a movie camera somewhere, and I'm...

Even in the middle of a real emotional scene,

in a real moment in life

when I'm totally connected and totally there,

I have a sense that, you know,

I'm playing a little bit for the camera.

And I'm a little aware of how... how, "This is good, this is interesting.

"How can I use this? What do I do with this?"

Because, for me, it's like turning it into art.

It's... She calls it my Trigorin complex, you know?

Trigorin?

Chekhov?

Anyway, let me tell you this.

I made a nice chunk of money for both of us,

even though it was inadvertent.

What happened was that, um, I had some real estate deal that didn't go through,

but the people put up land as a security.

So do you mean we own some land out here?

But in this meantime, I've managed to get a deal

where it's been sold to some other people

that are developing a shopping center. And not only that...

Wait a minute, one minute ago,

I owned a piece of land out here and now it's been sold?

We. We.

We inadvertently acquired it as a defaulted security.

And now I managed to sell it with a good profit.

I'm gonna go over and take a look at it. Where is it?

It's in Santa Monica. You want to come and look at it?

By the way this piece of land has some kind of old building.

I think it's some kind of, I don't know,

some theater or something like that.

Wow, look at that.

What is this to you? It's an old theater.

Don't be stupid, Mickey.

Look at how beautiful this is.

Stupid? It's only worth the land it's on.

I wanna go in. I wanna look in there.

Go ahead. Suit yourself.

Hello! Anybody here? I know there's somebody there.

Anybody in there?

Hello!

Can you let us in for a couple of minutes?

We just wanna look around. I'm sorry, I can't let anybody in.

I know, I know, I just wanna look around.

I'm sorry, I can't let anybody in. The theater's closed.

Two minutes, I just want to look around. It looks gorgeous.

It is. It's a beautiful theater but I'm... I can't hear you.

It's a beautiful theater but I'm afraid it's closed.

I can't let anybody in. Wait a moment.

We're the owners of this place.

You're what? We own this place.

We own this place. Own the theater?

That's not the point. The point is...

That is the point. That's not the point.

That's the point. We are the owners.

The point isn't whether we're the owners or not.

The point is I'd like to be able to look around.

Yeah, well...

You're not gonna get in that way.

I don't... I don't know what to say.

I mean, I'm not supposed to let anybody in.

We are the owners. Technically we're the owners.

I mean, we own this thing, right?

Of course we own this place.

I don't know. I'm not...

Pretend your artistic sensibilities...

I'm not supposed to let anyone in.

I mean, you don't have to start getting...

No, no.

Well, that's how you get in, though.

I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Hey, I'm very sorry.

I didn't mean to push you. Yeah, well, you know...

I... I just would like to look around

for a couple of minutes. I'm sorry.

I feel terrible. I'm not supposed to let anybody in.

No, no, that's quite all right.

We own this place here so that's fine.

Well, tech-technically we own it.

According to you, we own it for 10 more days.

Ten more days? Technically, yes.

May we go in now? I guess so.

You wanted to see it, go ahead and enjoy yourself.

What do you mean 10 more days? What happens in 10 days?

The property's all being transferred,

the theater's being razed and a shopping center's being built here.

Wh-What? The theater's being torn down? Yeah, yeah.

You mean, it's definite now? Definitely set.

The demolition crew is coming.

They're going to level this place

in preparation for transferring this whole block of land.

But it's unbelievable. I had heard rumors

but I... I couldn't really believe they'd want to tear this down.

Sure. This and all the adjoining properties.

But this is a legendary theater.

Do you have any idea who played here?

Marie Dressler played here, Blanche Ring played here,

Nora Bayes played here. Fanny Brice,

you remember her on the radio.

You know, she was Baby Snooks.

This is an historical theater.

My God.

Do you know, I have to tell you frankly, even your being here...

When the accounting is made I'm gonna have to pay for the share

of the time I still owned this place, for you,

and I don't even see your function here.

What are you doing here, actually?

I'm taking care of the theater.

I wouldn't care if the whole place was vandalized

because it's all about to be torn down.

So what's the difference what's not in here?

Mickey?

Progress, everybody's gonna have a nice shopping center here.

- Mickey! - Yeah?

Come look at this.

You won't believe this.

Look at this.

Yeah?

You're going to tear this down?

You're telling me, you're gonna tear this down?

I'm not the one who's gonna tear it down.

It's all been arranged long ago.

What interests you about it anyway? Look at it, for Christ's sake.

Okay, so it's a nice, archaic theater. So what?

"O for a Muse of fire

"That would ascend the mightiest heaven of invention

"A kingdom for a stage Princes to act

"And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!

"Then should our warlike Harry Like himself assume the port of Mars

"And at his heels leash'd in like hounds should famine, sword and fire

"Crouch for employment

"Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?

"Or may we cram within this wooden

"O the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?"

We did Henry V here.

I was the Prologue.

This is a theater.

This is a theater,

which is a temple of the story.

Tell me your story.

God. I'm so depressed!

Why? I think you gave a great, great show.

You think I gave a great show? Yeah.

I think I was never in my body for a split second.

You're kidding. I feel so...

You were fantastic.

The audience loved you and you were great.

Your voice is incredible. You're nuts.

I don't know, I just feel depressed.

Why do you feel depressed?

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?

I don't know. I never thought about it. Why?

That's it? You never thought about it? That's it?

What am I supposed to think? It's Hallmark, you know?

No, no.

What "no, no"? What's... What is this? No.

What "no"? What?

Well, it means a lot to me, Valentine's Day,

and I was sort of hoping

that maybe Valentine's Day meant a lot to you, too, Danny.

I can't claim that it does. I'm sorry.

Valentine's Day has never meant anything.

It's one of those holidays that was invented, like Mother's Day.

It was invented to sell cards. No, it isn't.

I've... I've had a real feeling about Valentine's Day... Okay.

Ever since I was a child. Okay.

You know, about how many valentines I would get.

Is this... Is today Valentine's Day?

No, next Sunday is Valentine's Day. And it's...

And I... I thought you'd maybe know, you know.

I didn't know.

How are you? How are you doing?

All right, under the circumstances.

What do you mean?

Well, I mean, I'm glad to see you,

but you appear once every year, once every six months and...

I mean, I like you. I want to see you.

But, um, you know, at the same time, it's very disruptive

and, you know, I... I'd like to have a regular relationship.

And I always know when it's my half birthday

because I got my period for the first time

when I was 13-and-a-half years old.

No kidding. Yeah, exactly 13-and-a-half.

It was May 18, and I got my period on my half birthday.

And my father took me out dancing.

Can you imagine?

He took me out dancing all by myself,

without my mother...

To, like, a fancy nightclub,

and we went out dancing, just him and me.

And he was the best dancer in the whole world, but that's irrelevant.

I mean, the fact is... is that even now I think about being

33-and-a-half or 34-and-a-half

or 35-and-a-half

'cause of that.

Best story about Daddy.

It's a nice one.

But it's complex because at the same time I like you

and I want to see you

and I'd like to have a regular relationship with you.

At the same time, I don't know. And, you know.

I know. I understand. I understand. I feel the same.

I mean, I come here. I like you. I want to see you.

You know, I'm frank about it.

I don't commit myself to some regular relationship with you.

On the other hand, I do really like you,

and whenever I come here, I look forward to seeing you

and being with you.

I used to walk with my father in the winter.

Skiing places we went,

North Conway, you know, up in Vermont and New Hampshire.

And he'd walk with a stick in the... in the winter.

And that smell of wood smoke always brings that back

with a big emotional rush.

Look at what we're doing, isn't this...

So?

So? Can we have a good time together?

Can we feel nice with each other?

How can people do this again and again

and think that they're doing it for good?

And then the people are gonna come and get the stories

and get more and build up over the years.

And then, slowly, that background will be a permanent fact

in their... In their joint relationship.

And then suddenly it's gone and they gotta start all over again.

And then we're supposed to start all over again and do that again.

Now it begins...

You feel like, you start to tell a story

and you think, "Well, I told this before.

"It wasn't you. Who was that?

"What are you doing here?" You know.

"Yeah, you're nice. Maybe you'd understand this.

"Maybe you'd like to hear this.

"I wanna hear this one of yours."

All stories have to do with men and women, don't they?

If we're gonna... Are we gonna...

Am I staying the night?

Or most stories.

I'm talking about sleeping over, waking up with you,

finding out what it's like to really be together.

I don't want to have this kind of conversation otherwise.

The condition is universal and eternal.

Yes or no? Do you feel like having me over as a guest overnight?

Yes or no? Tell the truth.

Quickly. I can't.

Okay, good night.

Sorry. Thank you.

You know, the Mohammedans cannot make a good story.

In a Mohammedan world, all you have to do

is say, "I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee," three times,

and the marriage is over.

Therefore, where is their problem?

Now, with the so-called sexual revolution,

we all only have to say "I divorce thee" once

and the story is over.

You know, maybe you're right.

Maybe I need an old-fashioned story.

A story isn't old-fashioned.

No? You're simply looking for it.

The minute you find it, you'll be happy.

Get up on the stage, get your lights on, get your people in,

and let's see some of that Danny magic.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay. We can get started now. I'd like to tell you why you're all here.

I'm afraid, in a way, I've gotten you here under false pretenses.

You all answered a Mailgram which said,

"If you are alone on Valentine's Day, come here to this address."

You didn't even know where you were coming.

You thought you were coming to just some party.

And, some of you,

because my name was at the bottom and you know me,

thought, well, I was giving a party at somebody else's place.

Well, I am. It's everybody else's place. It's the theater.

There's gonna be food upstairs all day long

and drinks upstairs all day long,

but, um, there's something else that I would like to try.

Through a weird series of circumstances,

my brother and I find ourselves the owner

of this gorgeous old theater, which was built in 1911,

and which is not gonna be with us very long.

He, unbeknownst to me, made a deal, several months ago,

sealing the fate of this theater

and consigning it to be the groundwork for a future shopping center.

Because of him this theater is gonna get torn down.

Because of this man. What do you feel about that?

No, because I have to manage your financial...

Are you serious?

Aren't you people used to hearing the other side

before you jump to a conclusion?

No. I know that. I see that.

Why is it being torn down?

A whole collection of people who have no sense of reality, like you.

I thought this theater should have a chance,

one last chance, to have something exciting and vibrant

and alive and creative happen inside of it.

And I wanna take this opportunity to try to make that happen.

Good, we can really get started now.

I was just trying to fill the, time until you...

Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it.

What is this?

You want to take a seat?

"If you are alone next Sunday, Valentine's Day,

"come to 214 Santa Monica Blvd. Anytime from noon onward

"and you may find what you are looking for.

"Affectionately..."

Happy Valentine's Day, kiddo.

What are you doing?

Okay, everybody's arrived now so we can, get started.

I've asked you here because I'd like to explore something with you.

We are all, for one reason or another, alone in life.

That is to say, none of us in this room

is in a permanent relationship with somebody else

and I want to understand why.

I want to understand why all of us, all of us here, are alone.

Nature gives us loneliness. Right? Right? It gives us loneliness.

Well, why? It must be something positive.

It must be something that nature wants us to have.

Nature gives us pain so we won't burn ourselves in the fire. Right?

It gives us hunger so that we'll eat.

We won't die of starvation. Right?

Well, why does it give us loneliness?

It gives us loneliness so we will find each other.

It gives us loneliness so we won't be alone.

Loneliness is something good.

Loneliness is something which nature gives us

in order to see to it that we are not alone finally.

It is not natural for us to be alone.

It is natural for us to be with somebody else.

Yet, our entire society, our entire culture, is teaching us now

that we're supposed to be alone, that it's good to be alone.

That you learn how to be strong alone and healthy alone.

Well on your own.

Autonomous. Independent.

But nature doesn't want any of that.

If it did, it would've given us no loneliness.

He's a crazy person. I've known him for years.

I don't know if it's something about today.

I don't know if it's something about the lives we... we live.

I'd like to try to figure out why it is that we're all alone.

Um, in order to do that, I therefore,

if you'll bear with me, I have asked a crew

to come here with me.

Hi.

We are going to make, something.

I don't know what we're gonna make. We're going to try to...

Excuse me. We're going to try to, document in some form

what it is that we're all going through, starting, obviously, with me.

But I don't want this to be an egocentric experience.

I mean, I know how this looks.

I didn't get you here...

I didn't get you here to look at me talking about me.

Okay, I know all of you fairly well.

How long do we have to stay?

- Um, the day. I'd like you to stay the day. - All day?

You don't have to stay all day. I think you'll want to stay all day.

I want to talk to you about some things

that I personally know you want to talk about.

That you've never had... I wanna talk about where the bar is.

The bar is upstairs on the second floor.

Are we getting paid for this?

No. No. There... There's a little problem about that.

We'll talk to you later about that.

This is a party, for God's sake!

We're having a party, right? Yeah!

Okay, we're gonna have a party.

It's gonna be a little different.

Instead of a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat,

or some kind of a funny guy in... in, I don't know, some kind of an outfit,

or jugglers, or blues singing, or something like that,

instead of that we're gonna try to figure out

the answer to certain questions. Take it.

What happened? We finished the film. Roll out.

Okay, while they're out, I want to...

Seriously now, I'd like to talk to you about this.

Okay, could you go down quietly please?

Hey, Danny.

I really... Hey, Danny.

Look who's here.

Hi. Come on in.

Look at all these cameras. I'll, I'll be right back.

Where are you going?

I'll be right in here just dolling up for somebody.

All right, see you later. See you later.

And I really would like very much to find out if it's possible

to come to some kind of answer about why it is that we're alone.

He hasn't changed very much.

Did you get it?

I share with you my vulnerabilities,

my insecurities, my self-doubts.

I want you to share them with me and the camera.

I would like to try to find out

if there is something to find out.

This is a little too cosmic for me. Is this a little too cosmic?

- Are we rolling? Good. - Yes, we are.

I want to know why you're alone.

Why are you alone?

You're a serious working actress, respected,

good at your work, all of that. Right, yeah. Right.

But you're not married, you don't have a family.

I presume that you'd like to, someday, have a family.

Yeah, and I will. Yeah.

So I don't have this sense of panic that you seem to have...

You don't think that it's...

about this being alone business.

I think... I think being alone is okay.

Maybe we should have you look more into the camera.

Look right into the camera? Yeah.

Tell me this way.

Being alone is essential to being able to have a relationship,

and it's a good thing. Why?

So that you're not clinging to somebody.

So that... So that you're with somebody because you want to be with them

not because, you're missing something within yourself.

Do you dream different dreams now

than you did when you were a kid

about what life's supposed to be like?

Um, I don't dream about the future anymore.

I used to. I... I've stopped doing that.

And I think that's a good thing.

Okay.

Why are you alone?

I'm not always alone.

What I am is alone in moments,

and I'm always desperately grasping not to be alone.

- Are you alone in life? - Yes.

Why?

I like to think that it's because I'm in a phase.

Only a phase and, I'm between great loves

rather than as a permanent thing.

Is it true? I don't know.

Do you mind if I leave?

I have some business to attend to. Yes, you can't leave.

It's important for me...

I think this man is crazy. I don't know this guy.

It's important for me. I just have to sit here?

Yes, you just have to sit here. Have a party. Meet people.

You're always complaining you don't meet people.

I had a troubled childhood, but that has nothing to do with this.

Judith, would you take this?

Could you look into the camera, do you think?

I feel like I'm being x-rayed.

Why are you living alone, do you think?

I think I like living alone and I wanna live alone.

And I wouldn't know how not to live alone.

But you didn't think, when you were a kid,

that you'd feel that way at this point in your life?

I never had any real projections into the future as a kid.

I didn't form... I mean, I had said, "I'll have six children."

So what happened to that? But it had no weight to it when I thought it even.

Really?

So you don't mind not having children?

No.

And do you think that in the future,

at some time, you'll be living with somebody?

It would have to be somebody that I can't imagine.

Hi.

Hi.

You seem ironic. I know, I am. I think I feel ironic.

You've got an attitude problem. I don't know... Right.

I don't know what's gonna happen

so I guess I'm feeling a little defensive.

What is this party?

Is this, like, the last rites for this theater or something?

- Is that what they're... - I'm afraid it might be.

Well, it's... Well, it's a bit more than that, I think.

Carol, you got an invitation from me, right? Yes.

Danny's looking for something.

You obviously brought a friend. Yelena.

Hello, Yelena. That's Danny. Yelena.

Nice to meet you. You're the only stranger here I think.

Having a nice time at this party?

If you can call it a party.

Really.

Do we need to get this on film only or what?

Sam, how are you doing?

I used to be married. And I still wear the ring.

But you're basically alone in life, right?

Well, yes, alone and not always alone.

Alone when I wanna be alone.

Alone in the sense that in our childhood we thought when we grew up,

we would have husbands, wives, families. In that sense alone.

I went through that. I mean, I got married.

I had a child. I did all that.

And then? I don't want to do that anymore.

That was enough for me then.

I did it. Once I did it, I knew I never had to do it again.

Yelena, is it?

What do you want from me? If you want from me something,

that you want it in front of the camera. It's not what I want.

Why not in front of the camera?

This doesn't change the truth.

No, well, I don't know. If I were an actress,

maybe I could do something in front of the camera.

I'm trying to find a certain kind of truth, emotionally.

My God. You are going to dig forever

if you are going to look for that.

Am I gonna find it?

Glimpses of it, I think.

Glimpses of it is good.

I'd like some glimpses of the truth.

I think that's about as much as you can get.

Are you a happy person?

Happy. I'm not so dumb, you know?

To be happy you should be like a village idiot,

you know, to, "ha-ha," leer all the time.

No, I'm reasonably content, sometimes happy,

sometimes extremely happy.

And sometimes terribly melancholic.

Are you married, and with children?

No, I'm not married, never was married.

Not because I couldn't have.

I could have a few times.

I dreamed when I was a child, I don't know about you,

that I would find somebody and I would fall in love.

And we would get married and have children. Did you?

I did, and then it stopped. It didn't work out?

It didn't work out. That's right.

What about you? I...

I think I was always frightened that it won't work out.

How do you come to be here?

That's a funny way of putting it. Well, okay...

Danny.

Danny invited you?

And you?

I'm his brother.

Hi.

I don't know. Maybe it will work today.

What do you mean it'll work?

Maybe I'll meet someone

and that will be my romance, even for a day.

True romance, if it lasts half an hour,

three days, it's wonderful.

I don't think it can last forever.

Do you think you might find somebody here?

I don't know, I... I'm going to behave like a...

Forgive me, American women. Yes?

But they are more aggressive than European girls.

And I'm going to try to behave a little bit like an American woman.

Um...

I heard so much about you from Carol.

I seem... It seems to me, I know you a little bit.

Quite a lot actually. Um, I have to go, okay?

Wait a minute. Where are you going?

I'm... I just have to leave. I just have to leave.

I'm uncomfortable here and I don't know, I just...

There goes a romance for you. You see?

This is not what this is about.

Okay, I'm sorry you have to leave.

Bye-bye. Okay, bye.

Thanks for being here. What is this about?

This is friendship.

You kiss too much here in this country for nothing.

You really do.

Listen, I hope you don't object to me asking you this,

but are you feeling completely okay?

When I look at you, I feel that I'm glimpsing at the truth.

Thank you. That's... That is a real compliment.

It's really true. That's nice.

I'm very happy to meet you. I'm happy, too.

And we'll talk a little bit later on

at the party without a camera.

Okay.

I was worried that m-maybe you were feeling physically n-nauseous or sick.

That you had eaten something that didn't agree with you. Something of that sort.

No, but thank you very much for thinking of me.

I mean, generally you tend to be a healthy person, right?

Physically, at least?

Yeah, right.

Well, mentally is more complicated to... Yeah.

And you?

Well, physically I'm a very healthy person,

and mentally, I wouldn't venture to say.

Okay, Harry? Right here.

Danny.

Look in the camera. Hi.

How you doing?

Having a good time? Well, so far, yeah.

I'm trying to figure a few things out, Harry.

What?

Like, why everybody at this party is alone.

Well, it was, one of the qualifications to get invited, wasn't it?

Are you an actor?

No, most decidedly not.

Why, are you an actress?

Yeah. Yeah?

Yeah.

You mean you act in movies? That's right.

Are you kind of a famous person?

Yeah, I am kind of famous but not according to you.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

You know, I just don't know much about that field.

I'm sorry. Edith Helm, that's my name.

Hi. Nothing? Yeah.

No. It drives me insane.

I've found, from when I was a little child,

if you get into a real tiny, tiny place,

the smaller it is the less lonely you feel.

I used to crawl into cupboards, closets.

I had a job once, they never could find me.

They never knew where I was 'cause I found, like, a closet.

It was about, you know, maybe 5 feet 11 inches tall.

I'm 5 feet 10-and-a-half.

Never looked for me there, and I didn't feel lonely there.

Do you live with someone now?

Yes, but I live in the library.

What are you looking for, ma'am?

I'm looking for...

I'm looking for someone to love me,

and I'm looking for someone to love, and give me a lot of space.

Both at the same time? A lot of space.

Both at the same time, yeah.

You think they are mutually exclusive, love...

I used to. I don't anymore.

Do you miss New York?

I miss a certain thing about it,

but, I guess, what I miss about it, is, I miss being young

the way I was when I lived there, you know.

I was a different kind of a guy then.

What kind of a guy?

Married.

How are the dreams of your childhood

different from the reality of your adult life?

It's not what you think. It isn't?

I don't think it's who you think it's gonna be,

or whatever your dream was of who you thought it was gonna be.

You play so beautifully. Thank you.

You know, I've never heard you sing

but I certainly know your name.

And I know people tell me that you're good, you know,

but I've never heard it.

Well, maybe you can sometime but...

I've wanted to meet you for a long time

because of the songs that you write and because of the way you play.

So it's... it's very nice for me. Thank you.

Real nice.

I hope they don't ask me to play here.

♪ Somehow I'm sure I've found a sure thing in you

♪ Something within tells me we'll win

♪ Somehow my heart has picked you out of the blue

♪ Though I am only a beginner

♪ A winner I'll be

♪ But win or lose, whatever comes up

♪ You're thumbs-up with me

♪ One thing I'm sure I'm sure of all my life through

♪ If love can figure out a sure thing

♪ That sure thing is you ♪

Are you in a relationship?

I don't know.

You don't know?

What do you mean?

Um, I've started to go into it,

and I've been afraid of it, and started to get out of it and...

I don't know. I don't know which direction it's going.

I just know that I'm very emotionally affected by it.

So, to that degree, I'm in a relationship.

What are you afraid of?

The only thing I'm afraid of is loss.

Yeah.

'Cause when you're crazy about somebody,

it's not easy to lose him.

People aren't the only ones who are lonely.

A theater can be lonely too, you know.

Someone has to put on plays. There has to be life in a theater.

Are you living alone? No, I live with two cats.

You live with two cats?

I never thought I would've been a person to live with two cats

but that's the way it worked out.

I was married twice and now I live with two cats.

And I figure if I can get along with two cats,

maybe I can get along with the next man in my life.

This theater has given so much joy,

to so many people, for so many years.

It's been here since 1911.

It's been a home to vaudeville and to films

and to marvelous plays on tour, it had repertory companies.

Once it was even an opera house.

Please, I don't wanna hear any more

about theaters being torn down.

Well, but it's a reality. I don't wanna hear about it.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.

I hope... You didn't offend me.

Don't... I'm not taking this personally from you.

It's just, I don't want to hear about theaters being torn down.

Hi. Miss Helm?

I'm Richard Herbert. Hi.

How do you do?

You might have seen me around the set here at the party.

I'm working on the film.

I hate to stop this but hold on one second. Hold on one sec.

I know it's terrible to stop this. You can't put me on camera.

I'm behind camera not on camera. Come on.

Just for this do me a favor.

This is a big favor you're asking.

I appreciate as a director to a director...

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

I'm alive behind not in front.

What have you learned from this? Anything?

I wouldn't do this film the way you're doing this film.

I don't want help. Thank you very much.

I'm not offering help. It's a different style.

Anything else?

Yeah, there are a lot of lonely people,

and thank goodness, we all can take advantage of each other.

I'm sorry but that's just the truth.

I guess you've heard a lot of this before

but I grew up watching you in film.

And I've always thought that you were

the most sensual woman I'd ever seen.

So it's... it's almost a part of my emotional history. I just had to...

I... I don't know, am I... am I fucking up here? Or...

Not at all. Michael, is it?

It's Richard. Richard Herbert. Richard.

No, Richard, this is not fucking up.

So you came here to find someone?

Well, I didn't expect to find someone but...

When someone... When someone says... But what you are saying is...

What you are saying is that you...

I... I'm always looking.

I'm always looking to find... Yeah, you look like someone who is always looking.

Do you have a problem with getting close to people

who are in the production end of things?

Well, the theater's gonna be torn down.

But that has nothing to do with me. It's...

What do you mean it has nothing to do with you?

I mean, it just happens to be... Don't you own this property?

Yeah, I own it now but...

Then it has everything to do with you.

How can you permit this?

Because there's already... How can you allow this?

This incredibly beautiful theater.

Do you know how old this theater is?

'Cause, you see, I'm really an actor.

You might have seen me in some Cassavetes movies.

Yeah? Yeah.

I like John, Gena...

Yeah, they're great people, aren't they? Yeah, they're great.

You know, I have nothing to do with this.

I've explained this to you already.

How can you have nothing to do with it if you own it?

That makes no sense to me at all.

I would like you to explain it. Please.

Yeah, all right. But this isn't a suitable time and...

When? If they're gonna tear this down tomorrow, this is the only time.

Well, everybody is looking to find someone to...

Have you ever been married?

Yes.

Divorced long time ago?

Recently?

Divorced, 10 years ago. My God.

And this is so beautiful. Look at it.

They don't build theaters like this anymore. Look at this place.

Do you know what's gone on here?

No, I don't have any trouble getting close, you know,

to production people. It just depends...

You're every bit as beautiful as I used to think. God!

When you were a baby?

It's beautiful. Look at it.

It may be. Look at the detail.

Look at it. Feel it. I mean, this theater has vibrations.

I'd like to think of you as a friend.

Get over this movie star stuff.

I think that you... you and I might be able to develop something.

I don't know, as friends.

Consider it this way, you didn't know that I had this place,

and you didn't know that I lost it.

So forget, as if neither of those happened.

So we're back where we started.

Don't give me an answer.

Just consider me a new acquaintance and let's take it from there.

Thank you.

God.

I have... I had a drunken weekend, last year,

just before the Cannes Film Festival which I ended up going...

Usually, I think men get... They... They get divorced.

In about a year or two years, they get married immediately.

They cannot live alone after they've been married.

It's very strange. They all crave for freedom

and then they cannot stand it.

Helen, I'm so glad you're here.

I, I'd always lived with someone.

I'd, either had a college roommate or a girlfriend.

I really don't know if I should even bring this up

but I know that you just broke up so...

Are you feeling all right?

Sure.

You are? Yeah, I am. It's interesting.

I mean, I don't know what to do with myself.

Every freedom is very tough to bear, you know.

What's that? What's that, do you think?

Well, I think love is sort of like a car radio.

I mean, you're cruising through life and you have a radio on.

And sometimes the music's sweet, sometimes it's not.

But when you get to, certain destinations, you cut it off.

And sometimes it's more peaceful

even to ride without that radio on.

It's not that... The radio doesn't steer the car.

And love doesn't steer your life.

No, no, no. No, no. This is seafood...

I don't want it all.

For every little Brussels sprout,

you know, this is... This was a person once.

This is reincarnated people into vegetables. Okay, then leave it on.

Leave it. I'll eat it all.

You know, with everybody here being so, self-analytical and introspective

and, discussing all the things about themselves,

it... it made me realize that I have this quality,

that I have elements of my personality where I'm shy

and those where I'm not shy. Like, somebody who knows me

with my enthusiasm and my comfortableness with them,

they wouldn't believe I'm shy, but I am shy

in the sense of initially engaging somebody

and expressing an interest to them,

and in altogether, um, showing any feelings towards them when I...

Wait, wait, wait.

When I don't know that they're gonna be reciprocated.

I have a reason why I'm telling this to you.

When you first came in... Yes.

I was, very drawn to you.

I don't know, it was a strange, kind of mystical feeling.

About me? About you.

And... And then you... you disappeared

and, I didn't know where you were.

And I... I felt a kind of, anxiety, a panic.

And I thought, "My God, she's left. And I'll never see her again.

"I won't know who she is."

And, I was really... I felt terrible.

And then when you came back, I... It was... It was wonderful

because I knew that I would have a chance to talk to you.

I'll tell you, the practical manifestation of it

is that I'm kind of in a quandary

of how to deal with these people here.

I... I'd like to meet some of these women

but I'm shy... I'm shy in initiating conversation with them

because I don't want them to think I have a motive that I don't have.

And on the other hand, I might really have that motive.

Furthermore, my problem is that

what if they don't respond positively towards me?

Then I'll feel very foolish and uncomfortable

about having initiated something with them

and, that's just basically, the situation now,

in a practical way, without going into the theoretical basis of it.

No, don't go into the theoretical. Okay.

All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

I feel embarrassed

because I keep going on and on

asking about Danny and then...

Well, he's an interesting man but, I'd rather talk about you.

If I could find some way that somebody would approach me,

then it would solve my problems.

You got... You got it. You're a very smooth talker.

But again, that's only when I get started, not when I initiate.

I mean, I don't know how to initiate.

You initiate. Look at what you did with me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't have that problem with you

because you're a male and I'm not at all oriented in that direction.

I get it. I get it.

What you're telling me really makes me more interested

because, you know, there's an obstacle now.

You are interested in Danny and I'm interested in you,

and there's a kind of drama.

I don't know, I've always found it useful

to, play the piano or to play an instrument, you know.

Yeah, and? That works sometimes.

Some women go... They just, they jump on talent.

Other women jump on power.

Is he, um, really involved with that girl?

I think so. I think it's... I think it's hopeless for you.

Well, now I have my obstacle.

When I'm in here, I'm 14.

The moment somebody puts a mirror in front of my face

then I'm, you know, grown up.

And what I'm trying to do now is make some real adjustment

between girl and woman.

And try to understand this.

Just try to understand

how to get past being girl and into woman.

Being able to... to get married,

have a child.

I mean, maybe if I wasn't so busy being one,

I could... I could, have one.

And action.

Are you lonely?

How many people do you know who are 44 years old

and have never been married?

And not... And they're not gay?

I bought the rap, you know.

If you grew up in the '60s,

there was sort of this backlash to the '40s and '50s

which was that commitment is bad, it makes you unhappy.

Marriage is a trap.

Being a wife is a dirty word.

Um, children are to be adopted not birthed.

And... And I was good, I was bright, energetic and so I created this life

where I didn't have to do any of that

'cause that's what the going theory was about how to be happy.

All the time, I really wanted to be married and have children,

but I was afraid to tell anybody that.

I want to be married and I want to have a family.

So I've said it now.

So I get it now, right?

And I've never been free in my whole life.

All I ever wanted was to really be free.

Yeah, really? Free to just say anything I wanted to say.

Free to just be anything that I wanted to be and not...

And not always think about all these other things that are out here.

And not always have this voice

that's saying to me, "No, you shouldn't have said that,"

and then, "You shouldn't have said this,"

and then, "You shouldn't have said that."

Okay, roll A camera.

Helen, look in the camera. It's me.

Hi. Hi, you.

Which you?

♪ They say there's no use running after something

♪ You'll never get

♪ But my heart says, "Don't say no"

♪ Somewhere in this lonely city

♪ Is a woman for me

♪ But will I wait a lonely lifetime

♪ And keep on looking for the right one?

♪ But will the right one

♪ Ever come, come by?

♪ I'm looking for the right one

♪ When will the right one come along?

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?

It's another year that I'm not married

and, I don't have a baby.

♪ I'm looking for the right one

♪ But will the right one ever come along?

♪ I'm looking for the right one

♪ When will the right one come along?

Would you like to get married?

Yeah, I still think about it a lot.

I... I... I think I'm getting a little old

to get married in white, though.

You want me to stay over with you tonight?

I wouldn't go that far.

♪ I'm looking for the right one

♪ When will the right one

♪ Come along? ♪

I wish, um... I wish Helen was my girlfriend.

Why?

I'd like to stand in line at a movie with her.

I mean, what's everyone talking about?

Everyone's talking about...

Well, what I heard today is, like,

if... if happy marriages don't exist anymore,

my mother and father are pretty damn happy.

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about what everyone's been saying here today.

You think these people are really that lonely?

Hey, have you been listening?

Look at that broad over there. You think she's lonely?

Why are you alone?

I don't really think there's an answer to that.

So I accept not knowing the answer to that,

and I find that I can be happy by not knowing,

by being in the unknown.

Even when you got everything you thought of, you know, you can think of,

and you can imagine, you got a baby, you got a husband and...

Yeah?

No, I mean the... the...

The tragedy is that you take yourself

and you take all your problems

and you take all of your frustrations

and all the things you don't grow up about into that marriage.

I don't feel alone 'cause I feel very connected to everybody.

And I feel... I feel a lot of love.

I feel that everybody loves everybody.

And I feel that you're not alone if you have that feeling.

I just want to get married someday

and have kids like my mother and father did.

And all these people, they're telling me here

that because of this revolution crap

there's no way I'm ever gonna have a happy marriage

or anything...

Fuck.

You feel better? Edith.

I feel better now.

My mother, I guess that's what it is,

she plays, like, this slave role to my father,

but she's so happy doing it.

Those two people are so in love.

You guys just don't understand.

Because she doesn't know. It is. It's true.

It's like... They're like slaves, women.

And if that is anything, that means I can't have that kind of relationship

that my mother's got right now.

Joey, what the fuck are you talking about?

Most of the men I've known in the past 15 years

have been absolutely essential to who I am now.

A lot of them have really taught me a lot about loving

and taught me a lot about, understanding myself

and understanding what's going on around me.

I saw two teenagers the other day

and they were so in love with each other and they were so sure.

You could tell by watching them

that nothing could come between them

and that nothing in this world could hurt them.

If I'd been with one person through that whole time,

I don't think I would be who I am today,

and I really like who I am today.

I believe in soul mates of some kind,

and I believe that you do find people that are the right people,

and extraordinary things happen with those right people

for certain periods of time.

I want babies now.

Nobody can do it for you.

I mean, I'd like a boyfriend, I'd like a husband,

but I'm hungering, my whole body is aching for children.

I'm so susceptible to wanting somebody to do it for me,

and wanting somebody to come along

and really help, really help me

with everything I need to be helped with.

Someday they'll come along, the men I love.

I really think that the times that we spend alone

are for us to learn how to help ourselves.

I don't know how any of these women have not said

that they want little chicklets following them,

and pulling at their dress and asking them to play with them

and... and do things with them every day.

I just don't... I don't get that.

Nobody has said anything about little children.

I mean, boyfriends, husbands, love, sex, rock 'n' roll,

but where are the kids?

Well, I don't know what you think of all this stuff

but I'll tell you, to me it's all kind of a ridiculous nonsense.

And a pretentious nonsense.

And even a very silly, self-indulgent, pretentious nonsense.

All the dreams I had as a little girl

are the dreams that I still have.

I think that I will attract something good because I am something good.

I mean, what is all this stuff?

These people are talking about their feelings.

They're so interested in themselves.

They're so in love with themselves.

The whole world centers around their emotion, you know,

and they're engaging

in this... this sort of pseudo-group, third-rate, group psychotherapy.

Well, what does your world revolve around?

My world?

Yeah.

Practical reality.

At least, I'll talk about concepts and I'll talk about ideas

and even abstractions, that's fine,

but not where it's all centered and focused on me and my feeling.

It's a party, and at the party people are going around filming people.

And they... they're all so in love with the fact that this stuff is happening.

Are you in that category of people?

Are you one of these self-styled artists?

Or excuse me, maybe you're a real artist. What's the story here?

What do you think is important?

If relationships aren't important

and feelings aren't important,

what is important?

I think relationships are plenty important.

Don't get angry at me about it.

- So, you take over. - Is that where the keyboard is?

Yeah. Let your fingers do the talking.

You have to stay on the keyboard.

That's right, just like something else.

My mom was a piano teacher.

Was she really?

Wow.

And I don't play a note.

Is this what you write with?

Yeah.

What're you doing here?

I don't know. I just saw you and I've always adored you.

And I'm so happy to run into someone

that I've always adored.

Really? Yeah.

Well, I don't know what to say.

I'm just kind of flattered...

I don't know either.

And just kind of backed into a very wonderful corner.

But I... I like being in this corner and I like being next to you.

So, should we have major sex later or what?

What do you think?

I... I'm just your basic semi-rock star

but you're, like, an official actress person and...

I'll see you later.

I can identify with what everybody's saying about relationships.

I know. It's a great mirror.

I think we're all wonderful mirrors for each other.

Nobody's right and nobody's wrong.

I mean they're all aspects of who we are.

I mean, that is gonna bring us closer to each other, realizing that.

Yeah. Yeah.

We've all felt the same things at, you know, either at different times

or have shared those feelings at the same time.

It just makes me feel very compassionate, I think. I don't know.

Well, it just makes me feel a little less alone.

I found that when I was first living alone,

it was very difficult to go shopping

in the big markets, like the Mayfair

or the ones that have so many family sizes of things.

And I found it easier if I went to the 7-11

where you just pick up like a couple of things of toilet paper at a time.

You pick up small sizes of things.

It's going to take a couple of years,

maybe a year or two, to get used to it.

But once you get used to it, you're really gonna love it.

It's gonna be great for you.

It's really terrific.

Hi. Hi.

What are you doing here all alone?

I don't feel like talking about it right now.

What do you mean you don't feel like talking about it right now?

I need you to talk about it right now.

You've got everybody talking about things all the time here.

I just don't feel like talking right now.

What do you feel like doing right now?

You're standing alone. I wanted you to have a good time.

I got all these people here.

You always complain that you're lonely.

You don't know people. You don't meet people.

There's a million people here.

Why don't you ever meet anyone?

There's a tremendous number of girls here you could talk to.

Women all over the place. You know, I met somebody who I really like and...

Yeah? Well, why aren't you talking to her?

And if you have any problems with it,

I mean, I can really help you out.

I can teach you everything you need to know about living alone.

I can teach you how to play Scrabble by yourself.

No, truly, you put Edith 1 and Edith 2, right, on the page. Okay?

And then, you know, you... you keep all the tiles turned over this way

so that you don't see when you draw a new tile,

and you can fool yourself, and it really does work.

Why aren't you out there having a good time?

I'm not in the mood for it now.

What do you mean you're not in the mood for it?

Look, I don't have time to waste here, God damn it.

I mean, what's so great about living with someone?

I got all kinds of people that are...

Didn't I tell you I didn't want to come here in the first place?

Didn't I tell you I didn't want to come here in the first place?

I want you to be able to have a good time, God damn it!

Then I sit here, all kinds of nonsense.

You put me on a stage. I just want you to have a good time.

Can you have a good time?

It's the communication that I like,

hearing people say what they think and feel and, um...

Right, yeah.

Revealing, you know, what they're feeling inside... Stuff.

What all of us are feeling inside.

Yeah.

They're all aspects of who we are.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

What do you think about all these discussions today?

I don't know, I'd need a room, a glass,

a cigarette to talk about such things.

You know, from the time that you stood on stage and said it,

I kind of try to avoid it or push it out of my heart.

And, it frightens me.

I don't know. It brings anxiety.

When you're really looking for that thing to happen,

I mean, that's... That's when you get most disappointed.

When you're not looking, that's when, you see the vision

appear in front of your eyes.

Trying to touch all the time,

craving for touch, and never being touched in... in that respect.

When you're taken, that's when you see

exactly what it is you've been looking for your whole life.

It's really basically Leave it to Beaver, Lassie.

That's the kind of stuff that really means something in life,

not all this other stuff.

Any thoughts on the subject?

Subject?

Being alone.

Alone?

The way I feel after a good Leave it to Beaver, that's important.

Expecting love on both sides.

Me to others, others to me.

It never gets any better than that in life.

But it never materialize... Materialize

in relation to what you dreamed about,

what you dreamt about, and what you dream even now.

You think you're gonna be alone for the rest of your life?

No, instinctually I do not think so.

I certainly hope not. I mean, I see others older as cautionary tales.

So after a while you find solace in books,

yes, in other people, in great movies, in art.

It is very important.

Are you lonely?

Sometimes.

I've never been alone.

I'm not lonely.

No. Are you kidding?

I'm not lonely.

You take it as a basic element of your life, the loneliness.

Sometimes it's very painful.

Sometimes it's not too bad.

I feel like crying. Never mind.

♪ Hasn't a ghost of a chance

♪ In this crazy romance

♪ You go to my head

♪ You go to my head

♪ Like a sip of sparkling burgundy brew

♪ And I find the very mention of you

♪ Like the kicker in a julep or two ♪

Okay.

Hi, Yelena.

Hi.

You look a long way off.

Yes, I was thinking about someone.

Someone who's not around here?

Yeah.

You want to tell me about that?

You know, I was... I was thinking

why... why do you think you have a right to ask me all these questions

just... just because you have this... this equipment and all that?

I... I came here thinking it's going to be a party

and now suddenly I'm being laid on a couch and asked all this.

And you don't like it?

Well, there are some things that I never wanted to think about.

So...

I still want to ask you what it is.

Um...

I... I might be able to tell you

but, as I said, not really in front of the camera.

Could you pretend the camera's not there?

I'm really trying to lure you. No, I'm not.

As far as I'm concerned, you and I are here alone.

I don't see a camera or anybody else.

Well, you are behind the camera, don't forget,

and I have this big iris staring at me, you know.

Look right at it, though. What do you see?

Can you see yourself in there?

No, and I wouldn't like to see myself in it.

You like mirrors?

I love mirrors.

You don't?

No, not really.

Why?

You look into the mirror and look in your own eyes,

which is a phenomenal thing, you know,

to really look into your own eyes.

And you start questioning yourself.

And, all the answers are not terribly good.

So I don't think one should look

into the mirror too much. Just...

You know, something like that but...

What do you think about mirrors?

I suppose I'm addicted to mirrors in a way.

Yeah, probably 'cause you're in that profession.

You must do what I say.

But I hope...

I doubt, but I hope that you don't look into a mirror

for some other reason.

♪ When you're still

♪ Do you hear one small voice Crystal clear

♪ Saying, "Listen here, my friend, listen here"?

♪ Well, that voice is your own and it speaks to you alone

♪ "You can count on me," it says

♪ So listen here

♪ This is you

♪ This is real

♪ This is truly the way you feel

♪ You can run

♪ And you can hide

♪ But sometime, someplace

♪ Each of us winds up face to face

♪ With that little voice inside

♪ So we hope and we yearn

♪ And we live and sometimes learn

♪ From that little voice that whispers crystal clear

♪ And we each hear the call 'cause it's calling to us all

♪ "Follow me," it says, "Never fear"

♪ Listen here, old friend

♪ Listen here, dummy

♪ Listen here ♪

You don't like the way this makeup looks?

No, I like the way the makeup looks!

It's just that you looked absolutely beautiful when you arrived.

You know, fuck! Really truly beautiful.

Fuck.

Fuck! Fuck Danny! Fuck him! No. It's okay.

Fuck it!

All your fucking... Not you.

What's the matter? No, nothing. Nothing.

What's the matter? Nothing. Nothing.

Come on, come on. What's the matter?

Take it the fuck off.

Let's get Danny in here. Wouldn't he love this?

Let's get the party. Let's get the party in here.

Where are they?

I don't have red cheeks, you know what I mean?

But...

Yeah, I feel great.

You know, but this is just typical of, like, you know,

put your makeup on, take your makeup fucking off.

Where the fuck is the wastepaper basket?

You got here a little late. Yeah.

Yeah, I just kind of peripherally

happened to notice your walking in. Aw!

You know, I always thought

that if anybody was gonna play Greta Garbo, it should be you.

I gather you're also in some kind of artistic endeavor?

Yeah, I'm in show business, too.

If that's the appropriate word for it.

What do you do?

Um...

Well, I guess what I do is pretty boring to you people.

I'm, in real estate business and kind of...

I find that very exciting.

I just bought a house in the Valley, myself.

Yeah? Yeah.

I'm not gonna cry.

Of course you're not. I'm not gonna cry

because I don't cry anymore.

Hiya.

Hi. How are you?

Who do I have to fuck to get out of this movie?

What do you mean? What are you talking about?

I'm not comfortable here. I just want to go home.

You feeling good now?

Excellent.

This wine is great, too.

Yeah.

It improves perspective on things.

I got the telegram

and I wanted to come down and see just that you were okay.

And now I know you're okay and you have your friends...

What do you mean I'm okay? Why wouldn't I be okay?

Well, the telegram seemed a little strange.

Even I'm starting to feel good

and it's difficult for me to feel good.

Why?

Um, just because I, um, sort of interfere

with the process of feeling good

and that's why the wine actually helps me.

So now I can enjoy myself.

I know what you mean, it removes the barriers

that you yourself put up.

That kind of thing?

Um, it doesn't remove them but it sort of dampens them.

Dampens the oscillations of the barriers.

Just because you don't want me to sleep over

doesn't mean that you don't wanna meet my friends, right?

If I hear one more thing about sleeping over and not sleeping over...

I mean, it really isn't the issue. All right, I'm sorry.

I never dreamed that you felt so alone. Shh.

I mean, from everything I've seen tonight

you seem, you know, that you're so alone.

Do you really feel that alone?

Mickey, you know, you asked me out earlier?

Yeah?

And I told you that I had to work, which I do?

Yeah.

But I wanna tell you something else

because you're such a sincere man, I feel.

Smart and sincere, and I like you very much.

And I'd like to get to know you.

Yeah.

But that is that I mostly go out with younger men.

Stay a little bit. Trust me, would you?

Please, babe? Trust me? Come on.

"Trust me." I heard that somewhere before.

I'd like to get to know you and maybe bring a friend by.

- Yeah, I'm alone. - Why?

I can't just live with somebody.

I mean, I would have to live with somebody

who understood me and who let me be the way that I am.

That's a rare person. I didn't find this person yet.

Someone who sees, who sees me and who helps me to see me.

And someone that I can help to see who he is.

Um, is your name, is that a Slavic name? Yes, sure.

Well, where are you from? Yugoslavia.

That explains it. Have you ever been there?

Yes, I have been. I have traveled around there extensively.

It's a very beautiful place. Alone? With your brother?

You've traveled with your brother somewhere?

I... I have so much to... to deal with my brother that I wouldn't do something,

frankly, voluntarily, like travel with him.

You know, I've had difficulties with my brother

ever since we were children. Um...

You're much older than he is? No, I don't think...

I'm a few years older than him, but even when we were kids,

even when the age difference was significant,

he always had to act like the one who's more sophisticated,

more experienced, more avant-garde...

Why do you say he had to act? Maybe he was. Because...

You'll find him. I might. I might not.

What happens if you don't?

There's still a lot to do here, you know.

Like what? There's a lot to do on this earth.

There's a lot of work to do here.

So being alone is not that important a part of it?

Sometimes it is.

Do you ever get very lonely? Yeah.

What do you do?

Cry.

In a way, we do have a close relationship.

Are you always so nervous... No, no.

Or is it because I ask you about him? No?

No, no, no. I'm not nervous now.

What this is, is not nervousness.

You are not nervous now? No, I'm just...

How are you when you're nervous?

Is your twirling your hair a kind of a nervous habit on your part?

Yes. I am a little bit nervous, frankly, talking about your brother.

Really? Yeah.

Yeah? Why is that?

I don't know.

Some-Something happened to me, I think.

Something between you and him?

I don't know between us but from me to him.

Really? Yeah.

This is self-indulgence, you know,

but your country offers that to people.

I think, when you come here

in that affluent society and so on,

you are... You... You get spoiled immediately.

You come from the airplane and you immediately fall apart,

and you can do anything you want, lie on the streets,

cry, laugh, undress, dress...

And I think it happened to me, too, a little bit of that disease.

That's good. That's good.

Stop the music for one second.

I'm tired. I would like to go home.

Is this party done?

Have you learned anything about yourself?

About myself? Yes.

It's not about me. I am a camera.

No, no. You're not a camera. You are a person,

and a very lonely person at that.

Okay, I love this. Tell it into the camera.

Look into the camera because I can't cut it otherwise.

You won't? - No.

You're refusing...

I will not be manipulated for another minute.

What have you found out today?

That you're completely crazy.

- Mark. - Marker.

Hearing people like you

talking about the Fates and about, "It's the other guy,"

and, "It's everybody else's fault," you know, and...

It just isn't what I believe, and it just made me think, you know,

"Yeah, what am I doing?

"Why am I expecting Max to, you know, make my every day so great?"

And stuff like that, it's up to me to... to,

you know, fill... fill myself and give something to him, be there for him.

And the fact is I actually do really love him and...

This is so silly.

It's nice to see you feel all this.

You know... You know why I'm real happy to see you feel all this?

Why? Because the camera's right there.

Shit.

I might have known. That's very good.

I'm in Profundities by Edith Helm.

Look right into the camera, would you?

If you're looking, Max, I really do love you.

Well, what... What...

What's the story with Danny, anyway?

If I understood the story with Danny,

and then I could tell you the story with Danny,

then I would understand it myself,

and if I understood it myself,

I would know why I was still here instead of at home.

You think she...

No, no, no, we're not... You know.

We just met a few months ago and we're recently friends.

I know. I know how long you've... How do you know?

I asked about you. I was interested to know more about you.

What would you like to know? Ask me directly.

I could show you major, major happiness.

You could? It goes way beyond this almond.

Are you susceptible to women tears?

You think I'm kidding? Yes, I think you're kidding.

Look, what are you doing with Danny?

Why not you and me?

Why don't we go like a wagon train and we'll go into the West.

I know that women are often blackmailing men with tears...

No, no, no, I don't believe that at all.

No, I'm susceptible to tears.

I don't think it's just women's tears.

I'm susceptible to emotion, to the expression of emotion.

That's why I'm doing all this.

I'm very susceptible to my own emotions and other people's emotions.

I'm trying to understand what people are feeling.

If we lived together, would you sing to me all the time?

I think people's feelings should be mutual.

That there should be equality of feelings.

Would you?

You wrote songs about your last girlfriend, didn't you?

Yeah, but she left.

She did? She's gone.

You can't know what you feel until you know what the other person feels

because it's a kind of a constant balancing act

to make sure that you're feeling the right thing

for the person who's feeling the right thing for you.

But you can impose some of the things on the other people.

Well, that's dangerous.

Well, I was trying to impose some of my things on you and it worked a little bit.

How do you know? Just because we're here, you mean?

No, I know.

You know? Yeah.

You're very sure of yourself. I'm old enough...

Yes. Yes. You are very sure of yourself.

Yes, I think so. Is that bothering you?

No, I love it.

It's the best thing about anybody.

You seem to have a very good sense of your own self.

No, but I don't know, I...

I was thinking that maybe I'm going to scare you away.

No, no, no, no. I'm not one of those people.

On the contrary, I'm scared away by people

who... who don't feel comfortable with themselves,

who are out of touch with their own feelings

or who are scared of their own self.

Who don't... don't know their own value because then they're fragile,

and they use your... your strength to hurt their fragility,

and that hurts your fragility,

and it's just a terrible mess.

I think it takes two strong people to be equals.

You're saying how strong I am and I'm absolutely... I'm shaking inside.

Well, I'm sure inside, if I got in touch with it, I'm shaking, too.

I'm not yet shaking as much as I want to be.

I want to be a little more out of control.

But I have a feeling... For what?

Well, I'd... I'd feel the truth of my being more

if I were more out of control.

You know?

And that would give me a kind of... A kind of strength

because then I could feel really who I am.

Vulnerable, you know, open.

I really like you.

I really like you, too.

- I don't know... - Hi, honey.

Hi. Hi.

Hi. Hi.

How are you? Hello.

Hi. Hi.

How are you doing? Good.

You two have met, of course.

♪ Someone to love

♪ Someone to cradle in the dark of night

♪ Someone who'd know just when to hold me tight

♪ When to let me go

♪ My own way

♪ I just want someone to love

♪ Someone who'll take me just the way I am

♪ Who'll want to take a chance

♪ And won't give a damn about falling down

♪ You know you can always

♪ Get up again

♪ Someone to love

♪ Someone who wants to reach out for a dream

♪ Who knows happiness can be much closer than it seems

♪ Who knows what to do

♪ With a heart that's true

♪ So will you love me?

♪ It sure would be nice not to go it alone

♪ I know that I can make it

♪ On my own

♪ I know you can, too

♪ But is it you?

♪ Will you be

♪ Someone to love?

♪ Someone to climb on in the heat of night

♪ Who'll turn around and love me till the morning light

♪ Is it you?

♪ Is it you?

♪ Will you be someone to love?

♪ Someone to love

♪ Someone to love ♪

Dim the lights, would you? Let's save them.

I don't know where I'm going.

I don't know where I'm supposed to go.

It's not gonna work. It doesn't make any sense.

I don't know what to do. I don't know.

Hi, there.

Hi.

What are you doing here?

Thanks for the invitation.

Well, I invited you but I didn't really expect you to come.

How long have you been there?

I can't see you.

Could we improve things a little? Sorry.

Yeah, sure. Could you bring the lights back up, please?

Good. Thanks.

I've been here longer than I guess you know.

You brought a lot of people here,

and you asked them about themselves,

and you probably asked me to watch your operation

because I've always been very interested in it.

You have a different way of making movies

than almost anybody else.

Certainly very different than mine.

And I came here to find out how it works.

And you just announced that it doesn't.

I don't think it does.

I don't think you're sure of that.

I think it's one of those moods.

I'd like to know what were you after

when you were asking those questions.

You have, apparently, a theme.

I... I was trying to find out why we're all alone,

why my whole generation is alone.

Is there something special about your generation?

Yes. What?

I think that my generation is the first one

that has not managed to create the illusion for themselves,

in their own lifetime, that they are not alone.

I'm talking about feeling a part of a family unit that every...

Family unit. Yes.

Now you've got a theme.

Of course, it's a great big huge theme

that, no movie can possibly take care of.

This is a movie, isn't it?

I hope it can become a movie. I'm beginning to doubt that.

Well, you come a little closer. Let's see.

I have a terrible feeling that because I'm speaking to you

from the back of the theater,

and because I have a white beard,

you may expect me to give you the truth about something.

I'm speaking from the cheap seats, not from Mount Sinai.

I think your question is very interesting and apt

insofar as it has to do with the collapse of the family, the clan.

The collapse of the community,

the community sense, and then the clan, and then the family,

has to do with the collapse of faith.

Whether it is faith in something you regard as supernatural,

or faith in the state as Confucius taught it.

Or Marx.

Or as they believed in it in the first period

of the kibbutzim in, in Israel.

Whenever there is a faith, it illuminates people's lives.

Don't you think that the clan stays together?

Is it possible for people not to feel alone

when Grandma is sent away to a home?

And when the family unit is only two people and a child

with a divorce either this year or next...

Why? Why do people divorce?

No, not why they divorce. Why they can't sustain relationships.

Why they can't sustain intimacy anymore.

I don't understand why. Why...

Do you think people ever sustained intimacy?

Well, they seemed to have.

My parents have been together for 55 years. Everybody else...

He goes off to work every morning at 10:00.

And what does your mother do?

She has a private life of entertainment.

There you are. Yeah.

She doesn't feel that she needs to compete with the man.

Shouldn't we be able to be equal people

and not be lonely and share our lives with others?

Let's see.

Up to now, no.

Why not?

Well, look at the... look at the condition that... that the women are in.

But why are they in that condition? Why are we in that condition?

Why is everybody in this lonely condition?

All right, that brings us to the great revolution of our times,

which is the liberation of women.

But by liberating women we are freeing the last of our slaves.

And for 15,000, 20,000 years

there has never been a civilization ever, not...

Including the great democracy of Pericles in Athens,

there has never been a single civilization,

which has not been maintained by slaves.

And, you know, it's only about 200 years,

200 years in the thousands of years

that we've been here on this planet,

that anybody has thought slavery is wrong.

There was never a word against slavery.

In the most high societies,

in the... In the noblest civilizations,

nobody ever said, "It's wrong to have a slave."

We have yet to see

whether a civilization could be based on equality.

It's a brand-new idea.

Of these people you have been asking questions to,

who were the loneliest?

I think the women were the most conscious of what they were missing.

More conscious than the men, but women are more conscious than men.

Because they are missing something.

Because in the process of taking...

Of taking those positions in society,

which they feel they should not be denied,

and who is to say them nay?

They have given up what they've had all this time.

And it's bound to create a certain sudden chill.

But you said what they've had is slavery.

Of course. Of course they don't miss the slavery.

But it was a... a very privileged slavery. A slavery nonetheless.

There's a difference between the field slave and the house slave.

Yeah, but they don't want to be house slaves anymore.

I'm not blaming them.

So what's the future?

There are several options.

The revolution could fail, as most revolutions do.

Well, we don't want that. Or it can succeed, as some revolutions do.

And the winners will be the women

and we will be enslaved.

But why does it have to be... Or we will both be enslaved.

We will both be enslaved

by a conglomerate kind of totalitarian world

run by computers

in which this problem will be so peripheral

to the general state of human misery

that this is all a waste of time.

The future holds many options,

many of them grim, many of them irksome.

God.

You... You're upsetting me much more. I was depressed enough before.

I didn't come here to make you cheerful.

I guess not. I came here to see a show.

Help me. I need help.

So do I, Danny.

You can't possibly be saying that this is bad, what's happened to women.

I mean, you must be happy that what's happened to women

is that they've freed themselves...

You know, excuse me.

- Excuse me. - Where were you?

This is Edith. You know each other, I think.

- I know this lady so well from the screen. - Hello.

I've been listening to Danny all day,

putting microphones in front of people

and saying, "What's wrong?" and, "What's wrong?"

And, "Why are you alone?" And...

You asked Danny who felt the split and separation,

the lack of family the most, and Danny said women.

And I felt like it was a projection on Danny's part

because I heard some women today

saying that they were having a good time,

and that they were enjoying their freedom,

and they were looking for things in life.

And I guess I'm... I'm limited intellectually

but I'm more interested in the personal point of view.

Yes? Welcome.

You'd be surprised how many of us are very happy people.

There are enormous amounts of women friends that I have

that are so happy now because they're finding themselves.

Well, happiness I don't know about.

I've always been deeply suspicious of that line

the Founding Fathers wished on us, "The pursuit of happiness."

I... I'm not very much in favor of that.

I think we should be full of joy

whenever there's a reason to have joy.

But I think happiness is not our right.

It's... it's an achievement. It's a bit of luck.

I'm happy.

I've had a kid, and I've been divorced,

and I am alone, and I'm happy.

- Yeah. - Yes.

As well as I'm not... not lonely and I'm managing to do what I want to do

'cause I'm extremely happy.

Is there anybody who's miserable up there?

You are?

Yes, I am miserable because, women are terribly dangerous.

Women are dangerous?

Yes.

A fatal admission.

I said something, to Danny.

He asked me about...

I'm all for American women, what they are doing and so on,

actually the... the liberation started here and so forth.

But I wouldn't like to be an American male.

It's not so much a question of being equal,

but American women consider themselves as a failure

if they did not succeed in the man's world.

- And it's wrong. - I have to cut in.

It isn't my struggle to be equal in a man's career.

It's that... that what I'm trying to do is

be less responsibility for my mate.

You know, in that I have a responsibility to find my own joy,

or my own life within myself.

The family has collapsed

because women are trying to do what men have never been able to do,

which is to be both completely fulfilled in their work

and completely fulfilled in their hearthside.

Men have been a notable failure at combining these things.

Why should women succeed better than we did?

Maybe if some of us women have made the mistake

of emulating men in our struggle for independence,

we now want to retrieve our power.

Men have stopped being men, too.

I miss that male energy.

Ole!

There's a tremendous diminution in men's energy.

It's partly because men are sympathetic to the new revolution,

and partly because we are scared to death of it.

Yes. You're absolutely right, girls.

Excuse me.

Excuse me, I shouldn't have said that word, should I?

Of course.

Yes. It's all right with me.

Isn't there a... Isn't there a... Isn't it a no-no?

No.

Calling women girls?

This theater is coming down tomorrow.

Are you aware of that?

That this theater is being torn down tomorrow.

Are you talking to me?

Yes, I am.

What a shame.

What more is there to say?

There will always be a theater.

No matter how many houses are torn down

there will always be a theater.

And it may very well be a healthy thing

that the old-fashioned theater is done away with.

I've tried to make the point that we are doing away with a form of slavery.

I've tried not to step on any toes.

It has been painful for me, in the last few years,

to say things like "chairperson."

Just as it's been painful for me to lose the valuable word "gay,"

for which we have no equivalent in our dictionary.

So I am sorry that our language has had to change

with our revolutions,

but I am not against these revolutions.

I've only tried to point out to you, or rather to Danny,

that what we're faced with

is a dilemma of a deeply sentimental man

and nothing more.

Nobody knows whether we are going to ever have

what he thinks is a happy marriage.

The options

rest in the womb of time.

You have to be willing to let us see some of you.

You can't lie down, Danny.

Okay, now we have him where we want him.

- I think... - Ask him the same things.

We finally have Danny where we want him.

Now you must ask.

Ask him the questions that he asked us all day.

Come on, ask him. Ask him, why is he alone?

Don't collaborate with them 'cause you're my friend.

- Danny! - Ask him why he's alone.

Not only, why are you alone,

but why have you imposed this, misery,

which has to do with a generation of people

who walk around holding mirrors to themselves?

Why you have imposed this peculiar misery on your friends

in a noble institution like the theater?

Justify yourself!

I don't have an answer yet.

Well, it's your movie.

It's my life.

From the testimony

of these lovely members of the female sex

that have gathered about you,

it seems to me

that you're the only miserable person in this theater.

All right!

I thought you were offended initially,

when I didn't recognize you as an actress.

I thought you... You didn't like me,

but Danny told me secretly that you actually did.

He shouldn't do that because I'm kind of shy about it, you know,

acknowledging that and expressing that.

Yes, but then it made me like you better, you know.

'Cause otherwise, I'm too old to like people who don't like me.

♪ All at once

♪ I knew

♪ That all I longed for

You sing.

♪ Long ago was...

♪ You

♪ Chills run up and down my spine

♪ Aladdin's lamp

Mickey.

Mickey, let's dance.

♪ Just one look and then I knew ♪

Not my key.

That's very good.

Have you ever been in love?

You do know why we're doing all this, don't you?

Come on. This whole thing...

You don't realize what this whole thing's been about?

This is your Valentine's Day card.

This whole party is your card, baby.

Happy Valentine's Day.

You mean that?

It's what it's about.

Hanania, you got that?

You got this? Go right in tight.

On her.

What do you feel?

What do you feel? Tell the camera.

What do you feel?

Come on. Come on.

Keep going with me. That was good. That was great.

What's the matter with you? What is it?

Come on. What's the matter?

Why don't you shoot this?

Just running out.

We finished the film. Roll out.

Sorry.

It's a terrible time to run out, you know.

Reload.

I told you, you should have changed.

You told me I should have changed?

Yes.

I told you we wouldn't make it.

What do I do now?

Let's reload.

What do I do now, Hanania? Go again.

We go again? She's just run out.

Call her. It's only a movie, you know.

Helen! It's only a movie!

What do I do now?

Are we ready?

Helen! I can't go without her.

If she's not here, I don't know where I'm gonna go.

What do I do now?

What do I do now?

What do I do now?

You know, um,

I don't think anybody can overhear us now,

and I want to take the occasion to tell you something

that I'm a little nervous about it,

but I'm gonna tell you anyway and...

Well, I'll come right out and say it.

You know, the thing is that I just really like you a lot.

I just have that feeling about you that I like you and it's very strange

because when I meet women, you know, usually I don't like them.

And if I do like them, I deny to myself that I like them.

And if I admit it to myself that I like them,

I deny it to them that I like them.

And if I admit to them that I like them,

then I'm waiting to see that they don't like me

and so I deny the whole thing altogether.

My brother used to tell me, when I was little,

that he wasn't really my brother

but that he was a Martian

who had taken over the form and face and figure of my brother.

I'm from the equivalent of Mars in a different galaxy.

I didn't believe him. I told him I knew he was lying.

But he said to me, "If you look me in the eyes,

"you'll know that I'm telling the truth."

Look directly in my eyes.

And I remember looking him in the eyes

and knowing the truth.

I am not your brother.

And the truth was that he was a Martian.

I am what you people call an alien.

He was a Martian.

Did you get enough footage?

Did you get enough footage?

Yeah, I think so.

What are you gonna do with it?

I don't know. I'll... I'll cut it together somehow.

The fact that I kind of feel that not only that I like you,

and admit it to myself, and admit it to you,

and don't deny it, and I'm able to tell it to you,

it's very strange because, you know, um, the thing about me

is that I've never been married

and I have a great difficulty with permanent relationships.

Mickey, this has been the most absurd day,

of, I would say, of my life but we know that's not true.

I have an extra toothbrush.

I'll bring it over and I'll leave it at your house.

Just in case.

Okay?

Whatever's happened here today

makes me...

I'm gonna go back to my husband.

When you go back to your husband,

I mean, does that mean that, it's a strictly kind of a...

Yeah.

Okay?

Because, you know, usually when women go back to the husband

that doesn't stop them from being available to me under the circumstances.

I never... All right, wait. Wait a minute.

Sometimes, you talk so much that I just, like, pull...

Okay?

Lights.

You know, endings...

Endings are a great American preoccupation.

And happy endings,

which is really what you're looking for

because you're a sentimentalist,

happy endings depend on stopping the story before it's over.

I think... I think you can give me help if you really want to.

At least one thing I know you can tell me,

how to make all of this work.

All comedies end in marriage

and all tragedies end in death.

And those are your choices.

Marriage or death?

And now we've added divorce.

I don't like that one.

I'd like to take marriage but I don't know how to do that anymore.

No one seems to know how to do that.

Put on your apron and shut up!

That's it?

"Put on your apron and shut up"?

That's the only choice?

At the moment.

"Put on your apron and shut up"?

For, what is it, 20,000 years,

all the generations that have passed

through all the civilizations of the world

have been totally alone.

We come into the world alone, we die alone, we live alone.

Love and friendship is the nearest thing that we can find

to create the illusion that we are not totally alone.

We've always been alone. Yeah.

Which strikes you as a particular problem of your generation.

And I'm trying to see to what extent that is a contemporary crisis

and not an eternal condition.

Can't I have a dramatic event?

Can't I kill myself?

Sure.

Would that work?

Well, it didn't work in Hamlet, he gave it up.

And went on for two more acts.

He asked a few of those questions, too, in blank verse.

It's a problem that comes along about the third act.

Don't I need a finish? No.

Could I kill everyone else?

By this time, the credits are rolling down

and the audience, such as it may be, is on its way up the aisles.

As far as this movie is concerned,

it seems to me you've got your ending.

Why?

Because we have come to the end.

I'm glad you came today.

So am I.

Thank you.

Stay a little longer? We really can't go on recording this.

Why not? It's gotten too sweet.

I'm not gonna say cut.

I'll say cut. I'm a director.

Cut!

Say it into the camera. What?

Say it into the camera.

I did.

Could you do it again?

You want me to say cut again?

Into the camera. And really...

He's a born director. He wants to improvise and do it twice.

Cut!

♪ Long ago and far away

♪ I dreamed a dream one day

♪ And now

♪ That dream is here beside me

♪ Long

♪ The skies were overcast

♪ But now the clouds have passed

♪ You're near at last

♪ Chills

♪ Run up and down my spine

♪ Aladdin's lamp is mine

♪ The dream I dreamed

♪ Was not denied me

♪ Just one look

♪ And then I knew

♪ That all I longed for

♪ Long ago, was you

♪ Just one look

♪ And then I knew

♪ That all I longed for

♪ Long ago, was you ♪