Original subtitles

- Oh, I'm sorry, everybody.

I just got hung up in traffic.

- This is gonna be a very short meeting, Seth.

- Why do you say that?

- Because I don't think we have anything to talk about.

- The fact is we have a great deal to talk about.

What remains an open question is whether or not

my husband is willing to do so.

- What he's not willing to do is roll over and play dead.

We're perfectly willing to talk.

Am I right, Carl?

- I'm sorry.

I was visualizing a 10-sided figure.

- Let's just look at the issues, Arnie.

Now, Andrea wants the apartment.

- It was Carl's place before they got married.

- Does it make it his in perpetuity?

She decorated that apartment.

She's developed an attachment to the apartment.

- Well, then we have a real problem here because he doesn't

want to relinquish the place.

- The apartment is where I do my best thinking.

- Which may sound as somewhat less

than a ringing endorsement.

- Let's not get started here.

- I know that in your eyes, it could never measure up

to Ivan Goodpasture's thinking.

- That's right, it doesn't.

- You know, I don't think that we're gonna settle this

case, Seth.

Maybe we should move on to depositions.

- OK.

- This is so upsetting to me.

I'm sitting here, and I'm trying to think

of the first 100 digits of pi, and I'm drawing a total blank.

- Before you decide to drag this out,

Mr. Becker, just keep in mind, if we do go to court,

I will be forced to describe in excruciating detail what it's

like to keep him from becoming even more dysfunctional than he

already is.

- I don't want to go to court, Andrea, believe me.

I'm just following the advice of my attorney.

- What do you mean?

Is he in charge, or are you in charge?

- He is. - Ah.

Well, I think we're done for today.

- You're a sniveling little toad.

- Do you know how many anagrams you can

find in the word "sniveling"?

- No, I don't, Carl.

- Would you believe that there are at least 25?

[theme music]

- We have a lot of ground to cover today.

Lunch is arriving shortly.

I suggest we get started.

Hicks Versus Rosoff.

- Mathematicians divorcing.

We're representing the husband.

The wife is asking for the moon.

We're in the middle of depositions.

I'm expecting to go to trial.

- Office Warehouse Versus Barbera.

- Technically, it's a shareholders derivative action,

but in fact, the board of directors

is trying to force Jack Barbera out.

- Do they have grounds?

- Not as far as I'm concerned.

But more importantly, they don't have the votes.

Jack and his son control 60% of the stock.

- Lunch is here.

- Ah, glad to hear.

It I'm starved.

Thank you, Dolores.

- If any of these are wrong, let me know.

- The People Versus Barkwell.

- Sam Barkwell was hired by two men

to take them mountain climbing.

One of the two was injured.

The three got snowed in.

Sam and Richard Visser killed the injured guy,

who by then was in a coma.

And he cannibalized them.

- Oh, my god, that's horrible.

- I can tell you that neither Barkwell nor Visser

will ever be the same.

- How could they be?

- One cannibal says to the other cannibal,

my wife made a great pot roast.

I'm gonna miss her.

- Arnold. - Really?

- Being that lunch has arrived, I

think we should probably change the topic of conversation.

- I agree with that.

- I just hope there are no ribs in there.

- Oh, very cheeky, very cheeky.

- What's the big deal?

There are vegetarians and there are humanitarians.

- Donner, party of 12.

- One cannibal says to another, I hate my in-laws.

The other says, so?

Eat the noodles.

- Jeez.

- This is going to be a tough fight, Jack.

The board of directors would like

very much to get rid of you.

- Can they beat us in court?

- I don't know.

- Is it possible that we could avoid a war with the board?

- How are we going to avoid a war?

They want me out.

- Dad, it's not a matter of wanting you out.

They just don't want you to make any other acquisitions

right now.

- I didn't build a business by listening

to a board of directors.

I did it by keeping my eyes open and knowing when to move.

Now if I can't make a decision and then act on it, then

what am I wasting my time for? - There you go.

- Thank you, dear.

- You're welcome.

- Would you like me to pursue settlement discussions

with their attorneys?

- You'd just be wasting your time.

- Excuse me.

I'll be right back.

- I need four copies of each, and I have

to serve them by 5 o'clock.

Sorry.

- Oh, it's OK.

At least the copier is better here than it is in New York.

- Oh, what kind of copier do you have?

- I don't know what kind it is, to be honest with you.

- Hi.

- The reason I ask is that I'm in office supplies.

- Oh, yeah? Hmm.

- Denise, thanks.

- Sure.

- Yeah, Office Warehouse?

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah, that's me.

- Oh.

- It's a family business, but it's my family.

- If you'll excuse me, I have to make copies.

- Oh.

Right.

- The good news is Mulaney is dropping the second-degree

murder charges.

The bad news is he's not dropping

involuntary manslaughter.

- Not exactly a surprise.

- I guess we better gather our things and head for court.

- I'm gonna ask the question one more time.

Are you sure you want a joint trial?

- Yes.

- I was the leader.

You're more sympathetic than I am.

A joint trial helps me more than it does you.

- I don't care.

I think we should stand together.

If it hadn't been for you, I'd have

also died on that mountain.

Now let's just do it this way.

- Let's go.

- Did you have occasion to examine

the body of one Vaughn Alnar?

- Yes, I did.

I retrieved the remains of Mr. Alnar

from right below the summit of Mount Goedert.

- Would you describe the condition of the body for us?

- A leg had been dismembered from it,

and the tissue had been removed from the leg.

In addition, the abdominal cavity had been opened,

and the liver had been removed.

- And what did you determine was the cause of death, Doctor?

- Petechial hemorrhages in both eyes

indicated that the cause of death was suffocation.

- Would said cause of death be consonant with the deceased

having been smothered?

- Objection.

- Overruled.

- Yes, it would.

Several bruises around the mouth indicate that the deceased

was, in fact, smothered.

- No further questions.

- Did you find evidence the deceased had any head

trauma prior to his death?

- I found evidence of a subdural hematoma.

That's a blood clot.

I estimated it occurred some two weeks prior to his death.

- Two weeks?

How long do you estimate it would have been before that led

to Mr. Alnar's death?

- I have no way of knowing that.

- Was the deceased suffering from hypothermia

at the time of his death?

- Yes, he was, severe hypothermia.

- Would you describe the nature of hypothermia?

- Uncontrollable shivering, circulation

is cut off to the extremities, dehydration, loss of blood

to the brain.

- How long before that would have killed him?

- I have no way of knowing that, either.

- Would you have any way of knowing whether or not it would

have been possible for Vaughn Alnar

to have gotten off that mountain alive?

- I assume there's always that possibility, Mr. Levinson.

- Have you seen the medical reports regarding

the defendants, Doctor?

- Yes, I have.

- Is it not the case that they were both suffering

from hypothermia, frostbite, and malnutrition

at the time they were found?

- Yes, that is the case.

- Would you have any way of knowing

if they would have survived had they not killed Mr. Alnar?

- No, I would not.

- I have no further questions.

- You're a mathematician, is that right, Ms. Rosoff?

- Yes, I am.

- And your husband is also a mathematician?

- Yes, he is.

He's a brilliant mathematician.

- I don't know that I'd characterize

myself as brilliant.

- Oh, don't be modest with me, Carl.

I've heard your exegesis on Uhlenbeck.

- That was when we first met.

- Yes, it was.

- Arnie, can we keep going here?

- We were talking about how a coffee cup and a donut

were topologically identical when you reached

over and touched my hand.

- We really have to do this now, Carl.

- OK.

- In the period of time during which you were married,

did you and your husband ever work together?

- We worked together while we were married.

We also worked together before we were married.

- Would it be fair to say that his work on simplex algorithms

and "poly-hed-arell" shapes--

- "Heed-rell."

- Polyhedral shapes.

Would it be fair to say that his precedes yours?

- What's the relevance of that?

- Well, my client doesn't want your client

publishing papers based on work that was

his before they were married.

- What are you saying?

- His work on curved ellipsoids, quadratic forms

on the deformation of spherical objects, and on K-derivatives

remains his.

- You can't be serious.

- Are you familiar with an individual

by the name of Ivan Goodpaster?

- Objection, irrelevant.

- I don't mind talking about Ivan, Seth.

- What is the nature of your relationship

with Mr. Goodpaster?

- Ivan and I have a sexual relationship.

- Is this ongoing at the present time?

- Yes, it is.

- Have you and Mr. Goodpaster engaged

in any joint research project?

- All right, now I'm instructing her not to answer, Arnie.

What she and a third party of her choosing elect to engage in

is irrelevant to these proceedings.

- If she is using her husband's work

to help Ivan with his dissertation,

it is highly relevant, Seth.

- What makes you think the work we're using

isn't work I've done when I've been with Ivan?

- Why are you doing this to me, Andrea?

- Why am I doing this to you?

Let me see.

Could it be that your obsession with Goldbach's Conjecture

forced me to live in an environment

that intellectually, at least, can only

be described as stultifying?

- I'd really like to get on with the deposition, if I might.

- You really haven't been a very good husband to me, Carl.

You refused to publish any papers that might

have listed me as co-author.

- Those papers weren't ready to be published.

The findings are trivial.

- And you've completely ignored me sexually.

- Well, maybe your little fling with Ivan Goodpaster

had something to do with that.

- Well, if you think I'm gonna wear a scarlet letter,

think again.

I'm ashamed of nothing.

Go ahead, Mr. Becker, ask me another question.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

- Do you know you're a beautiful girl?

Anybody ever tell you that?

Of course, they did.

- Thank you.

- Can I ask you a crazy question?

- Sure.

- What are you doing for lunch?

- Nothing.

- Hmm.

Can I take you?

- Yeah, why not?

- So?

- We're gonna go out and grab a quick bite.

- You two?

- Yeah, you want to come?

- No, thanks.

- Well, can we bring you back something?

- No, thanks.

- OK.

- Mr. Goodpaster, could you please

tell us when you and Ms. Rosoff became romantically involved?

- It was March 2, 1991.

What day of the week, Carl?

- I'm not thinking about what day of the week it was, Ivan.

- What day of the week was it?

- It was a Saturday.

Could we move on?

- Would you please stop doing that?

- I wasn't aware it was bothering anyone.

- Did you and Ms. Rosoff ever go away together?

- Yes, we did.

- As a matter of fact, starting in March of 1991, you went away

quite regularly, did you not?

- As regularly as was possible.

- You attended a symposium together

at the Institute for Advanced Studies

in Princeton, New Jersey.

Who paid for that trip, Mr. Goodpaster?

- In that I'm a graduate student,

I make very little money.

Andrea paid for it.

- And you spent two weeks at a Holiday Inn

in Rochester, New York.

Who paid for that, Mr. Goodpaster?

- Andrea did.

- Arnie, are we gonna dissect her entire American

Express bill?

- Yes, we are.

She was spending marital assets on these trysts.

- Are you getting sexually stimulated

by the details, Carl?

- Mr. Goodpaster, did you attend a Tetris

convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Ms. Rosoff?

- Yes.

- And would you tell us who paid for that?

- Stop.

I can't.

This is too sick.

I don't want to go any further with this.

- All right, let's take a break.

- We're fighting over sums of money, Arnie.

- That is exactly what we're doing, Carl.

All right, given what time it is,

I think we should take a break for lunch, if that's

all right with everybody. - Yeah.

Yeah, we can see you back here in an hour.

- So where do you want to go eat?

- Andrea, can I talk to you for a minute?

- I'll be in the waiting area immediately adjacent

to the elevator corridor.

- I think we should make some serious attempt

at reconciliation.

- It's not gonna happen, Carl.

- I've been inattentive.

I can correct that.

Let's try.

Let's make an attempt.

Now, I think your relationship with Ivan

is just a passing infatuation.

- It has nothing to do with Ivan, Carl.

You and I are fundamentally incompatible.

We should just recognize that and move on.

The truth is there have been Ivans in my life

since the second or third year of our marriage.

- There have?

- You were guest lecturing in Toronto.

I had an affair with Morton Kavno.

A short time after that, I had a brief affair

with Paul Cortsellis.

After that, I had an affair with Michael Costikyan

that ended just last year.

- Arnie, drew up the papers.

You can give her whatever she's asking for.

- Carl. - I can't.

- Carl.

- I just-- I can't do this anymore.

- What was your husband's relationship

with Samuel Barkwell, ma'am?

- He and Richard hired him.

- What did they hire him for?

- To take them into the mountains.

The three of them would sit in our living room

and plan out expeditions.

- Was your husband an experienced mountain climber?

- No, but my husband liked to imagine

that he could master anything that he set his mind to.

- What was the nature of the trip

your husband was killed on, Ms. Alnar?

- Objection to the term "killed."

- Ms. Guys, let's not quibble over semantics.

The witness may answer the question.

- They were to climb Mount Goedert.

It was supposed to be the more difficult approach.

It was also supposed to be a two-day trip.

- Did you have a conversation with Mr. Barkwell

prior to the trip?

- Yes, I did.

I told him that I was worried about my husband.

- And how did he respond?

- He said that he would get him back safe and sound.

- I have nothing further.

- Your husband, along with Richard Visser,

had been out rock climbing with Samuel Barkwell

prior to this trip, had they not?

- Yes, they had.

- Did they not have a training regimen designed

for them by Samuel Barkwell?

- Yes, they did.

- Did your husband follow that regimen?

- Not as closely as he should have, I'm sure.

My husband worked 60 hours a week.

- Did you ever witness a conversation in which Samuel

Barkwell cautioned your husband against overestimating

his abilities?

- I witnessed conversations between the two of them

all the time.

I listened as Samuel Barkwell convinced my husband

to live out on the edge, to take chances,

to-- to venture out into that godforsaken wilderness

in the middle of the winter.

- Mrs. Alnar.

- How could you slaughter him like that, Richard?

You're the godfather to our son.

How could you kill him?

- Susan?

Susan?

Please, just for one minute, can we talk to each other?

- No.

- Can I just look you in the eye and tell you that I'm sorry?

- No, you can't.

- You know this wasn't planned, Susan.

What happened to Vaughn could have easily happened to me.

- You need for me to say that I know that?

- Yes.

- You need me to say that neither one of you

is to blame for what happened?

- Yes, I need to hear you say that.

And I need for you to forgive me.

- Richard, I don't care what you need.

Neither you nor he have the right to ask me anything.

You want forgiveness, you get it somewhere else.

[tense music]

- We were going up the mountain, and Vaughn lost his footing,

and he fell.

- What did you do?

- Sam climbed down to where he was, rigged up a harness,

and we pulled him back up to a place

where we could all spend the night.

- What was his condition?

- I would say that he was semi-conscious at that point.

He had sustained a serious head wound.

- What decision was made as to what to do with Mr. Alnar?

- Sam was going to go for help the next day,

but a storm hit that we hadn't counted on,

and it made it impossible for him to get out.

So we built a snow cave, and we waited.

- How long did you wait in that cave?

- 22 days.

And every time Sam would try to get out,

he would either run into an avalanche or more bad weather

and he'd have to turn back.

- What did you have to eat during that time, Mr. Visser?

- Some trail mix and some freeze-dried food.

You see, this was only supposed to be a two-day trip,

so what we had, we made last for eight days.

After that, we had nothing.

- What happened to Mr. Alnar's condition during that time?

- It got worse.

We fed him, and we-- we tried to keep him warm, but by the end,

he was in a coma.

- At some point, was a decision made to kill Vaughn Alnar?

- Yes.

- Who made that decision?

- Sam did.

- Did you go along with it?

- Yes, I did.

- Why did you go along with it, Mr. Visser?

- Because I truly believed that there was no hope

that Vaughn would be rescued.

And I believed that if I didn't eat that I

would surely die as well.

- I have nothing further.

- Vaughn Alnar was smothered to death.

Is that right?

- Yes, sir.

- How'd you do that?

- We took a sleeping bag, and we held it over his face.

- Both you and Mr. Barkwell held it there?

- Yes.

- Did your friend struggle at all while you were doing this?

- No.

- He didn't kick?

He didn't try to push you away?

- The witness has stated the deceased didn't struggle.

- Your Honor, "struggle" is a rather imprecise term.

I'm trying to get at the specifics

of what was going on at the moment this killing took place.

- The objection is overruled.

The witness may answer.

- He didn't kick.

And he didn't push.

- Do you know for a fact whether his eyes were open or closed?

- The witness has stated that there was a sleeping

bag over the deceased's face.

- Your Honor, I would ask that the witness, rather than his

attorney, answer the question.

- The objection is overruled.

The witness will answer.

- I don't remember if his eyes were open or closed.

- Were they open or closed when you put

the sleeping bag over his face?

- They were closed.

- Well, if they were closed then,

why do you have any doubt as to whether or not they were closed

while he was suffocating?

Mr. Visser?

Why is there any doubt?

- Because I heard him speak.

- Your Honor, may I have a moment

to confer with my client?

- No, Ms. Geiss, you may not.

Proceed, Mr. Mulaney.

- What did you hear Mr. Alnar say, sir?

- I heard him speak his wife's name.

I heard him say Susan.

- Did you think to take the sleeping

bag off his face at that point?

- Yes, I did.

I did, Sam.

I begged you to stop.

I could not stop it from happening.

But I am sorry.

- I don't see why we have to fight this fight.

I really don't.

- Your father wants to exercise certain

managerial prerogatives, Alan.

He's not taking an unreasonable position.

- Every indication is that this is a bad time to get

into the software business.

The big boys are hanging back waiting to see

how the market shakes out.

They'll make a move and do the same thing to software

that Blockbuster did to video.

- Hey, youngster, I took a single store,

and I built it up into a corporation that

grossed $130 million last year.

So please, don't give me any lessons

on how to run a business.

- Dad, I am not trying to give you--

- Gentlemen, for the purposes of dealing

with the board of directors, let's

remember that you're both on the same side of this issue.

- Excuse me, Leland.

I need a signature on these. - Ah.

Yes, I'll take them.

Thank you.

- How was lunch yesterday?

- Fine.

- He moves fast, my father, doesn't he?

- What does that mean, he moves fast?

- Just what I said, Dad.

- You see something you want, you

waste no time going after it.

You make your move, as you're so fond of saying.

Did he offer you a job yet?

- That's none of your business.

- We had lunch.

- Denise, would you excuse us?

- OK.

Here's what I think I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna do what you do.

- Meaning what?

- Meaning I'm voting with the board of directors.

- You're doing what?

- I'm voting with the board of directors.

- Now, Alan, slow down a moment.

- I'm just doing what he does.

I'm making a move.

- You're stabbing me in the back, that's what you're doing.

- You side with the board of directors, your father's

out on his ear. - Then he's out on his ear.

- You want to be the boss? Is that it, Alan?

- I want to protect my interests.

- No, you want to be the boss.

- All right, I want to be the boss.

I'm 38 years old, Dad.

I want to stop being told all the things I don't know.

I want to be listened to.

I want to be respected.

I want to start making decisions the way you do,

fast and ruthless and without any regard

for what anybody else thinks.

- Alan.

- And I'm gonna start by kicking your ass out of this company.

- You went out with Jack Barbera?

- I had lunch with him.

- Was it a business lunch?

- No.

- Did you think there was any reason

for this lunch other than his romantic interest in you?

- Leland, he asked me to go to lunch, and I went.

I didn't think it was gonna be such a big deal.

- Well, let me tell you just how big a deal it apparently was.

Alan Barbera has announced his intention

to switch his allegiance from his father

to the board of directors.

That will result in his father being ousted

from the company he built.

- And this is my fault?

- It could be said that you had something to do with it.

- Excuse me, but I refuse to accept that.

- You don't believe that you could

have exercised just slightly better judgment in this matter?

- Well, nobody told me that there

was a rule against secretaries dating clients.

- I'm telling you.

- So you're firing me?

- What I'm doing now is putting you on notice.

When I fire you, you'll know it.

- The Scottish grading system for snow and ice climbs

goes from grade 1 to grade 6.

Grade 2 is characterized by rudimentary technical climbing

over short distances.

Unfortunately, that changed.

- How did it change?

- Well, the first thing that happened was it got warmer.

What had been good, hard, blue-green ice,

which was perfect for climbing, turned soft.

Climbing became more difficult, resulting in Mr. Alnar's fall.

- What, if anything, did you do in an attempt to get

Mr. Alnar off that mountain?

- The first thing we did was get him to a flat, protected area

and get him covered up.

I tried several times to go for help,

but each time, I was turned back by either avalanches or storms.

- Who decided to take Vaughn Alnar's life, Mr. Barkwell?

- I'll take responsibility for it.

- Would you tell us why you felt it had come to that?

- Mr. Alnar had been in a coma for five days.

His pulse was barely discernible.

His body temperature was extremely low.

I felt there was no chance to get him out alive.

- Well, in that case, why not just leave

him and get out yourselves?

- It had been more than two weeks

since we'd eaten anything.

We were suffering from frostbite, hypothermia.

I felt as though if we didn't ingest some form of calories,

the temperature in our internal organs

would be such that we'd freeze to death.

In order to have the strength to get off that mountain,

we had to eat.

- Do you regret what you did?

- I regret the circumstances made it necessary.

- Thank you.

I have nothing further.

- Were you aware, Mr. Barkwell, that search and rescue

operations were ongoing at the time you took this man's life?

- No, I was not.

Most search and rescue operations are scaled

back after about 14 days.

Also, given the weather, I was not optimistic

that the searches would find us, even

if they were still looking.

- Are you aware of the fact that people

have survived without food for as long as five weeks?

- I wasn't out to set any records.

I'd reached my limit.

Richard Visser had reached his.

I made the decision I felt was necessary in order to survive.

- Did you hear Vaughn Alnar speak his wife's name, sir?

- Yes.

- So you were aware that he was, in fact,

coming out of the coma?

- I was aware that he had spoken.

- And having heard him, you opted to go right

on doing what you were doing?

- Yes.

- In other words, once you had decided to sacrifice this man,

nothing was going to stop you.

- Your Honor, I object to the prosecutor's

badgering this man.

- Objection sustained.

Mr. Mulaney, you will cease badgering the witness.

- I understand the legal position that you are taking,

Mr. Barkwell.

What I'm wondering is whether or not

it doesn't seem, even to you, that maybe it

wasn't necessary to kill this man, hack off his leg,

and cannibalize him?

- We were dying.

All three of us were dying.

Vaughn Alnar was closer than Richard Visser or myself,

but we weren't far behind.

I didn't enjoy what I did.

I didn't derive some ghoulish pleasure

from ingesting human flesh.

It was a gruesome, sickening ordeal.

But had we not done it, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind

but that we would have died.

I am sorry that it happened the way it happened,

but I don't apologize for surviving.

- No further questions.

[tense music]

- Thanks for coming.

- Not at all.

- I wanted to talk to you about what happened.

- OK.

What did Leland and my father tell you to say?

- They didn't tell me to say anything,

and they don't even know that I'm here.

- Leland blames everything on you, though, doesn't he?

- Yeah, he holds me partially responsible.

- Well, I'm sure you can get another job, if need be.

- Did I do something wrong?

- No, I'm-- I'm sorry.

And I'm sorry you got dragged into this.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

You know, you don't have to murder your father.

- I'm not sure you're right about that.

- You're not?

- Look, I'm finished being a professional son, Denise.

I don't want to pad around after him anymore.

- Well, then don't.

Don't work for him.

Don't work for his company.

Start your own company.

You're a smart boy, Alan.

I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of things

you could do on your own.

- I couldn't get you to go out with me, though.

- Well, I'm sure there's a lot of other things,

you know, that you could do on your own.

- You're getting a major league shafting here, Carl.

I have to tell you that.

- I don't care.

- You don't care now because you're despondent.

You're going to care a year from now

when you're in the supermarket buying

dented cans of tuna fish.

- I can't subject myself to any more humiliation, Arnie.

It's too painful.

It was bad enough when it was just her and Ivan.

Now to be faced with the fact that there have

been repeated infidelities--

- Why is that an occasion to give her everything

that she's asking for?

- Because I don't want to go through a long,

drawn-out divorce.

- You know, if this does go to court,

we're gonna beat them cold.

- It doesn't matter.

- A little vengeance goes a long way, Carl.

- I'm sure vengeance is one in a range

of approaches to the selfsame set of circumstances.

I just don't know if it's appropriate in my case.

- Why isn't it?

- Because I brought her infidelities on myself.

- [sighs]

You're right.

- Well, not that I don't feel aggrieved.

- No, I understand.

I'll-- I'll finish up the paperwork on it.

You go back to your office, and I'll call you

when it's ready for signature.

- Well, I appreciate the effort you've been making.

- Right.

- I know you don't agree with me.

- It doesn't matter.

You're the boss.

- I do not, in any way, shape, or form, feel like the boss.

I'm in too much pain to sit across a table from this woman.

- Carl, do me a favor.

Don't ask me to feel sorry for you because, in my opinion,

you should be able to sit across the table from this woman.

You say it's too painful.

Well, sometimes the world is a painful place,

but you still have to take care of business.

- I don't live in the world the way you do, Arnie.

I live in my mind.

I don't build anything.

I don't sell anything.

I don't talk to people outside my field.

I don't talk to very many people inside my field.

For the past eight years, the one

link I've had to the world outside my mind

has been Andrea.

- There are a lot of other women in the world, Carl.

- The only women I've ever been with is Andrea Rosoff.

- What do you mean?

- She's the only woman I've ever had sexual intercourse

with or seen completely naked.

- Oh.

Put on your coat, Carl.

I'm gonna make a phone call.

And you and I are going to head over to the Monkey Bar.

- Wait a minute.

Who are you going to call?

What is the Monkey Bar?

- The Monkey Bar is a restaurant.

And I'm going to call a young woman I know.

- I don't want a prostitute, Arnie.

- She's not a prostitute.

She's a friend of mine.

- So tell me, what is this Goldbach's Conjecture?

- What's Goldbach's Conjecture?

OK, it's an open problem in mathematics,

which remains open to this day.

Simply stated, every even number can be expressed

as the sum of two primes.

- Carl is something of an authority on the subject.

- It was first proposed in 1742 in a letter

by Christian Goldbach to the great Leonard Euler.

It has remained open ever since.

- This is math?

- This is math.

This is number theory.

- Holly, this is an actual genius,

not just one of those guys who thinks of himself that way.

His IQ is 190.

- Oh, my god.

- I must say that I don't find the IQ, so-called,

to be a particularly reliable indicator

of most higher order thinking.

It's an interesting diversion, but in practical terms,

it's meaningless.

- January 5, 1965.

What day of the week?

- These are parlor tricks.

- January 5, 1965.

- Tuesday.

- November 17, 1931.

- It's silly.

It's meaningless.

Also Tuesday.

- Oh, wow.

April 24, 1966.

- Sunday.

- It was a Sunday.

That was the day I was born.

- You were born in 1966?

- Yes.

Wow.

- That happens to be a fairly interesting number.

- Why?

- 1,966 can be expressed as the sum of 953 plus 1,013.

Both of those numbers happen to be prime.

- Which means what?

- Not evenly divisible by any other number.

That sounds simple, doesn't it?

Now try to determine whether an odd seven-digit number

not ending in five is prime.

You'll soon find that test to be rather arduous.

- What did I tell you?

- So I guess Arnie told ya.

I got a thing for really smart guys.

- [gulps]

- When Sam Barkwell and Richard Visser

took the life of Vaughn Alnar, they

had no malice in their hearts.

They committed this horrible act because they

felt they had no choice.

By all accounts, Vaughn Alnar was gravely ill.

There was no reason to believe his life could have been saved.

Barkwell and Visser had no expectation of being rescued.

They were also starving to death.

Their choices were starve where they were, leave Vaughn Alnar

to die and try to make it back to civilization

while they were starving, or do what they did.

Had they done anything other than what they did,

they, too, would have died.

Let us not attempt to superimpose a code of conduct

that in a snowstorm at 13,000 feet

would have resulted in three men dying instead of one.

Don't punish Samuel Barkwell for saving the lives

he was capable of saving.

Thank you.

- Richard Visser is not a great mountain climber.

I think he'd be the first to admit that.

He found himself under circumstances so extraordinary,

I don't think any of us can imagine the horror.

I don't think there is any question that Richard Visser

was, indeed, horrified at the prospect

of taking another man's life.

The fact is that when it came time to do it, he couldn't.

Did he go along with it?

Yes, he went along.

Ask yourselves what choice he had.

Samuel Barkwell was in charge of this undertaking.

He was in charge at the beginning,

and he certainly was in charge at the end.

Whether or not you see fit to punish Samuel Barkwell,

there is no justification of any kind

in punishing Richard Visser.

Thank you.

- Samuel Barkwell says he had a good reason for killing,

so he's not guilty.

Richard Visser says he backed out at the last minute,

so he's not guilty, either.

Under the law, anyone who plans or participates

in the deliberate killing of another human being

is, by definition, guilty.

And that law applies here in this building,

on the streets of Los Angeles, and in a snow

cave at 13,000 feet.

The most basic tenets of civilization extend even there.

There was, despite what Mr. Levinson has claimed,

a real chance that all three of these men

would have been rescued.

Had one of them gone for help, the other two might well

be alive when help arrived.

Can I guarantee it?

No, I can't.

What I can guarantee is that Samuel Barkwell and Richard

Visser had neither the legal nor the moral right

to kill a helpless human being out of the belief

that it would keep them alive.

The law, as defined by Samuel Barkwell,

does not obtain in this courtroom.

What he and his co-defendant did was to commit manslaughter.

I ask that they be convicted and punished.

[knocking on door]

- Hey, Jack, thanks for coming in.

- Talk fast.

I have a busy day.

- You know, yesterday was the first time in my life

I felt like you were really listening to me.

- I've had a tough life, kid.

What can I tell you?

- You think it's easy being your kid?

- It probably had its pluses and minuses,

just like everything else.

- I think that's probably true.

- What is it that you want to say, Alan?

- Just that I'm not gonna do what I

said I was gonna do yesterday.

For the duration of this fight, I'm gonna stand with you, Dad.

- Why the change of heart?

- Denise called me.

We got together.

She had a few things to say on the subject.

I spent a sleepless night.

And I decided that whatever else I want,

I don't want to turn against you.

- So we're still in business?

- No, we're not still in business.

I'm gonna wrap up my responsibilities

for your company, then I'm gonna move on.

- What do you mean, move on?

- I've got some ideas.

I'm gonna start a business of my own.

- We'll do it together.

- I don't want to do it together.

I want to do it myself.

- So I'll just be an investor, a silent partner.

- Maybe next time.

- That makes no sense.

The first one's the one you need me for.

I mean, who are you gonna go to, investment bankers,

Wall Street? They'll eat you alive.

- Jack! - What?

- Listen to what he's telling ya.

- All right, kid.

Whatever you say.

- [sighs] Well, Arnie, where is he?

- I don't know, Seth.

He should be here.

- I know he should be here.

- If you have two nine-sided dice, what are the odds

of throwing 16 or more?

- 13.5.

- Carl, that was supposed to be challenging for my attorney.

- Take a look at that, baby.

- This is an indirect proof for Goldbach's Conjecture.

- That's right.

- "No partition with exactly two primes exists as a corollary

to Wildenberg.

There's no central involution."

It's incredible.

If it's true.

- We should probably get down to business.

- OK, I assume you're ready to sign some papers, huh?

- Actually, we're not.

- We're not?

- Ask Carl. He's the boss.

- Yesterday, I wasn't prepared to go through with the divorce.

Today, that's no longer the case.

- You've contradicted the fight Suzuki Thompson

theorems, you know that?

- Reductio ad absurdum.

- Quod erat demonstrandum.

- Seth, we should schedule the rest of the depositions

and get ready to proceed to trial.

- I want you to take me through this, Carl.

- Wait.

Look, look, have we really gone down all

of the avenues that could lead us to a settlement here?

- I want to be there when you polish your proofs.

- Andrea, please.

Let's first deal with the business at hand, shall we?

- The answer to your question, Seth,

unless your client is willing to drop the demands

for the apartment and agree to 1/3

of the monthly support she's asking for,

we're going to trial.

- Andrea.

- Please, Carl.

- I'll take you through the proofs

when we're done with the divorce.

- OK.

Freely conceding that this is impulsive,

erratic, and completely unstable,

what do you say we stay married?

- I'd say no thanks.

- Carl, you knew about Ivan at the point which

you suggested reconciliation.

I told you about multiple affairs.

You thought there were X units of adultery.

It turned out there were Y units of adultery.

Fundamentally, there's no difference.

- You're right, Andrea.

- Then why are you unwilling to reconcile now?

- Why are you willing to?

- I've never seen you in this light.

- Oh, in other words, now I can do you some good.

- No.

- There's going to be hoopla and frenzy,

and you want to be part of the hoopla and frenzy.

- I've never seen you more brilliant than you

are right now, Carl.

Don't turn me away.

- Sorry, Andrea.

- Why are you doing this to me?

- Excuse me.

Arnie, do you validate?

- Sure, Holly, the receptionist will take care of it for you.

- We're ready to go.

- Great.

- Carl.

- Bye, all.

[quirky music]

- Has the jury reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

- What say you?

- In the matter of The People Versus Richard Visser

on the charge of voluntary manslaughter, we

the jury find the defendant not guilty.

In the matter of Samuel Barkwell on the charge

of voluntary manslaughter, we find the defendant guilty.

- Mr. Barkwell may spend a brief moment with counsel

and thereafter be remanded into custody.

Mr. Visser is free to go.

The jury is discharged with the thanks of the court.

- Sam?

Sam?

You need to know something.

You need to know that I did a bad job.

- No, you didn't.

- Listen to me.

I'm not saying this for absolution.

I'm saying this because you need to hire another attorney

to handle your appeal.

One of the grounds you need to include

is my incompetent representation.

- You weren't incompetent.

- Allowing a joint trial was incompetent.

- Eli, you're not gonna get me to say it because I

don't think it's true.

Also, I don't want to hire another lawyer.

You handled the case.

I want you to handle the appeal.

- I'm sorry, Sam.

- I stepped in a hole, Eli.

It happens.

- You-- you left before I had a chance to say anything, Sam.

I am desperately sorry for what happened.

I did not go into this thinking that I

would go free and you wouldn't.

I-- I-- that's not what I planned.

That's not what I wanted.

I must say, though, in all fairness,

I don't feel equally responsible for what happened up there.

I was hysterical.

I didn't know what I was doing.

I'm sorry, Sam.

Is he not even gonna talk to me?

- Why would he?

- I told the truth up there.

What I said on the witness stand is what I remembered.

- And the fact that it hung your co-defendant out to dry,

that was strictly inadvertent?

- All right, now what would you have me do?

- I would have had you be a man.

I would have had you take responsibility

for your actions.

But then cowards seldom do that.

- You think I'm a coward?

- Yes, I do.

And much as I would be utterly terrified at the prospect

of going to prison right now, I'd rather be where Sam

Barkwell is than where you are.

If his appeals are unsuccessful, he'll do his time,

and he'll be done.

I suspect you'll be a coward for the rest of your life.

[tense music]

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