1
It's okay.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
Let me help you with that.
I'm looking for the concert hall.
I think we may drive right by it.
There it is!
Very funny.
I think it's gonna be good...
us being here.
Shit.
What?
I can't find my wallet.
Put it in your suitcase?
No. It's not in my suitcase.
Why would I put it in my suitcase?
Well, it's got to be somewhere.
Maybe it's in the car.
Thank you.
She's lost her purse. Her purse.
Will you just give her a minute?
All right, okay, okay, okay, okay.
When did you have it last?
The train station, I think.
The exchange booth.
- Shit.
- Oh, Janey, I'm sorry.
That bastard at the train
station stole it...
when you dropped all your stuff.
This is 170, not 70.
- Where do we need to go?
- We need 70.
Here we go.
Is this it?
I think so.
It's nice.
Yes, I have her credit card numbers
on file in my computer.
Yes, I have them here.
Okay, 5-5-3-3...
7-6-4-5...
8-7-8-7...
9-1-5-7.
5-7.
Yeah.
Expires 12-15.
No, she'll definitely need another card
sent out immediately.
We're here for two weeks.
No, I'm working here.
Yes, I'll hold.
You love how they ask?
As if I have a choice.
Do you know what I'm gonna try
to do while I'm here?
Besides learn Italian?
I don't know why you think
that's so ridiculous.
I don't at all.
I admire you. I just think
it's too late for me.
That's not true.
You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
And besides, what's the point?
The whole bloody world speaks English.
Well, I...
am going to finally
transcribe the tapes.
Yes?
All right.
Okay.
Well, if you can see it through to the end,
I think that's wonderful.
What does that mean?
Nothing.
Nothing?
I think it's a fantastic idea, Jane.
I always have. You know that.
That didn't sound very supportive.
You have my support.
I'm sorry if that came out wrong.
I just know how emotional
listening to them can be...
has been for you.
I think enough time has passed.
Well, that's great.
Why do you think he killed himself?
Who?
David Foster Wallace.
I don't know.
You can't get a sense by his writing?
You'll have to read it
when I'm done, darling.
Do you think he recognized a blank infinity
just stretching out?
He got to this point, maybe, where...
it was just day after day after day.
- I really don't know, Jane.
- Just so tedious.
And then of course, he felt guilty.
Most people think life is too short,
and there he was...
- all the talent in the world and it wasn't enough.
-Jane, can I.
Can we not talk about this?
It's just a bit morbid.
Love you.
Love you, too.
Do you feel all right?
- You feel okay?
- Yeah.
You sure?
Mm-hmm.
Are you sure you won't come with?
You'll be so busy.
Might get boring all alone.
I think someone should be here
in case the card is delivered.
True.
And then I think I might go out,
see what the world has to offer.
Well, if you do, leave
me a message, okay?
So I can worry about you.
Okay.
I've left you some money here.
Thank you.
- I'll see you later.
- Have a good day.
Testing. Testing. Okay.
Do you have any stories for my book?
What kind of stories?
Stories that you've prepared.
Or I can ask from a list of stories
that Dad told me about?
Go ahead and ask from your father's list,
God rest his soul.
Let's start with the war.
We went into an air raid shelter.
My mother, your great-grandmother...
she was shaking.
The sirens wailed and...
then there was the sound of a bomb,
and the man next to us...
he said, "I was in a shelter last night
with my wife and my little boy...
and half of it got blown away."
There was blood in his hair.
He was all alone.
That nearly finished my mother, you know.
Here we were in this
tiny town in England...
miles from Germany, from Russia,
from Italy, from any front lines...
and this man...
he had blood in his hair.
We were riding our bikes to school...
when the Germans started firing at us.
We jumped into a hedge.
We were terrified, but...
afterwards we couldn't stop laughing.
It feels now as if I'm the only one
who remembers that.
It's as vivid to me as if
it happened yesterday.
Oh, hi, Leonard.
It's Jane.
I decided to take an
impromptu trip to Ischia.
Or Ischia, as they pronounce it.
See, I'm learning a little bit.
Anyway, I'll be home later.
I hope you have a good day. Bye.
Those friends are all dead now.
There's no one left.
That's one of my regrets, you know.
Sometimes I think I should have
had more children...
not just your father.
You're all alone now that
your parents are gone.
No brothers, no sisters.
I'm upsetting you.
Let's talk about something else.
You want to ask me more boring questions
about the war?
All right then.
The castle?
Castle?
He'd been shot through the neck.
The bullet went in one side
and came out the other.
And there were all these bomb
holes filled with water...
and he couldn't tell which
was the German side...
and which was the Allied side.
When he came home, after
something like that...
you couldn't really complain
- to him about anything...
- Hi.
- Now could you?
- I'm actually going there now.
To the castle.
- You speak English now?
- Yeah.
Why, did you think I was Italian?
- Yeah.
- Yes!
That's great, that's cool.
Hey, hey, hey.
Where are you from?
- London.
- No, in America, come on.
- Maine.
- No shit.
I'm from Massachusetts.
That's crazy. That's weird.
- Right?
- Yeah.
Vacation?
- Oh.
- Are you?
- What?
- Are you here on vacation?
Oh.
Sorry. I thought you were saying
you were on vacation.
Me? No.
So, come on.
My husband is working in Naples.
What does he do?
He is playing in a concert
at the end of the month.
Cool. What does he play?
Viola.
The viola.
He any good?
Yes. Very.
How do you keep your violin
from getting stolen?
You put it in a viola case. Right?
No, that's not funny.
What's the difference between
a viola and a coffin?
A coffin has a dead
person on the inside.
Cause viola players are dead. No?
Why is a viola solo like
premature ejaculation?
Because even though you
know it's coming...
there's nothing you can do about it.
I can't help it, I've got this weird
autistic mind for jokes...
and I went to this music/nerd summer camp
when I was like...
- 10 and I played the triangle.
- Right.
And I'm an only child, so...,
you know, understand.
You look too young to be married.
Are you a newlywed?
No.
No.
You're making me feel
like a stalker. Fuck.
All right.
Hey, have you got 50 cents?
If you can catch it.
What brought you out here today?
- The ferry.
- Ha! "The ferry."
I like it.
They have this device
down in the basement...
it's like a torture cage, they'd lock you
in there until you...
turned to bones.
But can you imagine dying by just sitting there?
That would suck.
In like the 1300s...
thousands of families
lived in this castle.
It must've smelled pretty bad.
All those people crammed onto this rock.
Wow.
I know.
I've been coming here every day
and it still gets me.
If only we could kill
off all the tourists.
You're a tourist.
No I'm not.
I came out here a few months ago...
with this volunteer organization
dedicated to studying...
the relic populations of dolphins
and whales in the gulf of Naples.
I can't tell if you're joking.
I'm dead fuckin' serious.
No, I just didn't wanna go to college
and they pay for me to come over.
4 connecting flights, a 72 hour plane ride.
But, you know...
it was worth it. It was my
first time out of the U.S.
- How old are you?
- I'm 19.
It's my birthday today.
- Is it really?
- Uh-huh.
- Happy birthday.
- Thank you very much.
Yes, so, I left the program
after like a month.
Fuck the relic dolphins!
I'm still on the island
because I have this...
this awesome living situation.
I'll tell you the short version.
Basically, I used to have
ancestors in Ischia.
So when I come over, I Facebooked this
second cousin twice removed.
A second cousin twice removed,
in case you didn't know...
is when one person's great-grandparent
is another person's...
great-great-great grandparent.
I'd love to hear the long version.
Sorry. Anyway...
so this relative gave
me the name of this...
great uncle who lives on the island.
So I show up...
he answers the door and he's like
the oldest fucker I've ever seen...
- easily pushing 100.
- 100?
Yeah, if not older. He's like deaf and blind
and about 4 feet tall.
And he mumbles a couple things to me
in some crazy dialect...
ushers me inside, pours
me a glass of wine...
and leads me to this basement apartment.
And, yeah, I never left.
Love teaches me to feed
on flames and tears.
To turn withered hope
green through desire.
To re-enslave my heart each time...
Love frees his noble face
from that heavy disdain.
Who was that?
Vittoria Colonna.
The woman who lived here.
You read that in your guidebook
this morning, didn't you, Jane?
Sneaky.
Yeah, I've decided to learn Italian
by committing to memory...
all the sonnets she wrote
to Michelangelo...
in English and Italian.
I thought Michelangelo was gay.
Ah, according to history and the...
muscular thighs of his
sculptures, yes...
but that didn't stop
her from loving him.
Let's hear it then.
In Italian.
Let's hear the poem.
- Come on.
- Okay, okay.
- I'm impressed.
- Thank you.
You hungry?
Why? You gonna take me out?
Yeah.
- All right then.
- Okay.
- Red, please.
- White or... Red.
- Uh-huh.
- Thank you.
So you're really not gonna
tell me what you do?
I write freelance articles about parties
and fashion trends...
in Town and Country UK.
There's something else.
I'm writing a book...
about my grandmother's experiences
in rural England...
living through two World Wars.
I recorded her for hours and hours.
But now...
I don't know.
What don't you know?
You wanna listen a little?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
Yeah, no, I'd love to listen.
It's all tangled up.
- Hold on.
- Okay.
Awful as it was, it made you stronger.
These days people whine about
all sorts of things and...
I'm not one of those old people
who think my time...
had the only joy and the only problems.
We all have our own private
wars, every era...
but it was nothing like...
it really brought people
together, the war.
We helped each other during that time...
we had to laugh, we had to smile.
Well, if not for ourselves...
then for the people we'd lost.
Now shut that thing off, would you?
Get it out of my face.
That is like a window in time.
The sort of thing you...
wish you always did before
someone died, you know?
My husband thinks I'm
never gonna finish it.
You shouldn't care what anyone thinks.
We met while I was recording her.
Bonding over Granny, huh?
You make it sound perverse.
That's what it was, right?
I got pregnant so we got married.
I lost the baby.
I'm sorry.
I didn't go back after
that to the States.
Did you ever hear that story
about the red string?
I think I might have. Tell me.
It's like this Asian proverb.
Says that anyone you're
destined to meet, like...
your soul mate or your
family or, you know...
someone you bump into on the street,
we're all connected...
by this red string.
It can be tangled or stretched,
but it can never be broken.
There's this moment in the tape...
I'm sitting, waiting, in the airport bar
for my flight...
and I'm talking into the recorder...
rambling on about how I'm about to embark
on this amazing adventure...
and how I'm gonna show World War ll
from a totally different perspective.
But?
I don't know if it's that interesting.
That's the whole point, isn't it?
Keeping it interesting for yourself.
Maybe.
Maybe I just wanna write about nothing.
Everything is nothing.
All the best.
Make a Wish, huh?
Make it great.
Okay.
Hey!
- Are you ready?
- What do you mean, am I ready?
- You ready?
- What?
- Grab my hand. Go, go, go!
- What? Why? Oh, my God!
- Go!
- Oh, my gosh!
- Why? What do you mean?
- Go!
- Okay!
- Okay!
- Okay!
- What?
- It's the Caribinieri!
- What?
- The police! Come on!
- No! No! No!
Yeah! Yeah, yeah!
We can't go back! If we
go back, we get arrested!
- Okay,
- Run!
We can't pay if we
haven't got any money!
Oh, God. Come here.
Oh, God.
- Hey. Hey.
- What?
Would it make you feel better
if I said I set the whole thing up?
Yes, if it's true.
Is it true?
I paid the check when I
went to the bathroom.
You're horrible.
You're horrible.
- You're a mean. horrible person.
- Come on, let's go.
Come on, come on.
Quick! Let's go!
- Why are we still running?
- I don't know why we're still running.
Oh, my gosh.
It went up my nose.
Will you come back?
Maybe.
"Maybe" is not a "no"...
and since I don't have a phone...
you're gonna have to
give me your number.
- For cheap thrills and future crimes committed.
- No.
Fair enough.
I'd better go...
catch a ferry.
Hey.
Why do violists...
keep their viola cases
on their dashboards?
Why?
So they can park in handicapped spots.
Oh.
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
You're awake.
No, I've got so much of
this stuff to get through.
You bought fruit.
Nice.
These are the great big events...
the things you think you'll always remember,
and you do...
but there are other smaller..
Picking a blackberry that's
been in the sun or...
brushing the fingertip of someone
you didn't know you loved...
until you touched them.
Nellie was this little collie...
who wouldn't go on a leash
so she had to sit on a bicycle seat.
They stay with me, too.
Jane.
Janey?
Got some pastries.
You still asleep?
Jane?
"Jane-Let's get lunch Call me
when you wake up-Leonard"
My friends had lots of
American boyfriends...
and they used to bring us nylon
stockings and chocolates...
and all sorts of things.
And we used to go to London and...
we saw Glen Miller one time.
Oh, we used to go all over the place.
They were wonderful times.
I never had an American boyfriend.
I liked some of them.
They were nice boys, but...
I didn't want to leave my mum and dad.
I wish I had sometimes.
Know when you were 19
and the world just felt so open...
and carefree and full of possibility?
He reminded me of that.
Of that time.
- You were 19 when we met.
- Yeah.
I wouldn't have described you
as carefree back then. Not at all.
Well, I felt nostalgia...
or something for youth.
You're not old, Jane.
We ran out on the bill.
You just ran out... What do you mean
you ran out on a bill?
Perhaps I'm not explaining it well.
It was...
it was fun.
It was just fun.
How was work?
The conductor is...
actually a descendant of Walter Legge,
which is fascinating.
The three of us should plan a dinner
before we leave.
I'd like that.
Jane?
Oh, my God.
This is Caleb.
- Hi.
- Leonard. We were just talking about you.
We were. That's so weird.
- Sit. Please, sit down. Join us.
- Yeah.
Well...
- What are the chances of that?
- I know, right?
I've actually got to
get back pretty soon.
That's okay. I already ate,
so I'll just grab a coffee or something.
Can I have the check, please?
Oh, no, thank you.
Jane?
Jane?
You don't smoke.
Yes,
do.
Sometimes, at parties.
I didn't know that.
Well, I don't do it a lot.
Italian food's so overrated.
I love it.
There's no variety.
English food on the other hand...
Say what you like about it...
but there's nothing like
a good steak and kidney pie.
I went to this party the other day,
in this villa...
owned by this old drunk ex-pat and...
they had like a private
chef and everything...
and they were serving
this like loaf of meat...
covered in sauce with
all these other loaves.
This girl came over to
me and said it was cat.
- No!
- No joke.
Like a roasted mommy
cat and her kittens.
That is disgusting.
True story.
Why don't you tell Leonard
one of your viola jokes?
Go on.
You sound like my aunt.
Come on. Let's hear one.
I have one.
What is the definition
of "perfect pitch"?
What?
When you throw a viola into the dumpster
without hitting the rim.
- You didn't just make that up! It's too good!
- I did. I did.
Well, I'm impressed and I'm stealing it.
You can pretty much make that
joke about any instrument.
Do you play anything, Caleb?
This and that, you know.
Shall we?
What? Time to go? Already?
Yeah, I've got to get back to work.
So, what's next on your agenda, Caleb?
I'm thinking Tibet.
Oh, Tibet? Really?
Yeah, there's this thing called the
Shoton Festival at the end of the summer.
Yeah, I've heard about that.
That's where the Buddhist monks...
unroll all the tapestries
on the hill, right?
The monks, the monks, the monks.
It's so pretty.
How do you support yourself?
Oh, bit of this, bit of that.
All right then.
- I'll walk you.
- Does anybody have a pen? You got a pen?
Yeah, I have a pen.
Okay.
I have a piece of paper.
You guys should definitely
come over to the island.
I'll take you somewhere fun, you know.
Don't knock on the front door.
Come around the side.
90 Regina...
Ischia.
Here you go.
Thank you.
And thanks again for yesterday.
Oh, no problem.
Okay.
How stoned are you?
Come on, Leonard. It was just one puff.
It's not a big deal.
So you're saying you smoke back at home?
Occasionally.
Hey, can we do something fun tonight?
Sure.
I'm fine from here.
- Okay.
- See you after work.
Yup. I'll be waiting.
- Hey.
- Oh, God, you scared me.
Are you following me?
Maybe. Is that weird?
Yeah.
I couldn't sleep last night.
You told me you were
staying near the port...
so I got the first ferry this morning.
I came looking for you.
And I can't believe I found you.
What are we doing?
I think we're making out.
You're so sexy.
You're beautiful.
I can't. I can't do this.
- Why? Why?
- I can't do this.
Why?
- Do you do this a lot?
- What?
Do you do this a lot?
- What?
- Do you seduce women? Is this what you do?
You need to be less serious.
Don't follow me.
"90 Regina"
There was one boy from Belgium.
He was lovely.
He had a mustache.
My mother hated mustaches.
But he was shipped off.
I never saw him again.
Anyways, I met your
grandfather not long after...
and we got married.
Was it love at first sight with Grandpa?
Love at first sight?
Stop that thing. We're...
Leonard.
You're home early.
What did I do to deserve that?
I just missed my husband.
Jane, I'm sorry, just give me a minute.
A hell of a rest of my day.
Sorry, darling.
Hey, do you still want
to do something fun tonight?
Yeah, absolutely. I brought some dinner.
Thought we'd just stay in here.
The two of us.
I've just got to work
this thing out before tomorrow.
- Okay.
- Okay.
I'm sorry.
Leonard.
Leonard.
Can we talk?
- Say cheese.
- Cheese.
You should kind of be in the middle.
Never mind.
Hold on a second.
Look at that.
That's what our living room is missing.
- What did you do?
- I put my hand over my mouth.
- You did?
- What did you do?
Just waved.
"IL FUTURO NON E SCRITTO"
Leonard?
Do you have any fantasies?
What?
What?
Is there anything you want?
Just as you are, Jane. Just as you are.
You're all I need.
Oh!
Hi.
Did I wake you?
No.
I think I need to be less serious.
Yeah. Let me put my pants on.
Leonard thought you were lying...
about those cats.
He said that?
Were you?
They were delicious.
You make me feel nervous.
You make me feel calm.
You want a drink?
Is that him?
Yeah, he just shuffles around all night.
Must be lonely.
"Again and again and again."
"Again and again and again."
"Once I was single, my
heart it would jingle."
"I wish I was single again."
"Again and again and again."
"Again and again and again."
"Once I was single, my
pockets they'd jingle."
"I wish I was single again."
I didn't sleep at all last night.
Where've you been?
I was walking.
All night?
I've been thinking.
You left your phone here.
I had to plug it in.
We need to talk, Leonard.
I have to go to work.
- Can you be late?
- No. I can't be late.
- Leonard...
- Jane, whatever you have to say to me...
I wanna hear it. But
I've committed myself.
People are depending on me.
I have to go to work.
Okay.
If it wasn't the war,
it would've been something else.
There's always something
else, isn't there?
But that's the thing about struggle.
I'm going to make some tea.
Do you want some?
I'm all right.
You go out like that again,
just tell me. I worry.
Okay.
I can't seem to figure out
what's going on in your head.
Do you think everything we've been
through actually does us any good?
In the long run?
Or do we just make out "struggle"
to be something meaningful...
because that's all most of us have?
I tell you, the next
time we come to Italy...
it'll be a proper kitchen.
I don't know what you
want me to say, Jane.
If one little thing had changed
in my grandmother's life...
I might not be here.
Sometimes I worry I'm not honoring her.
With the book?
No, with my life.
This is it, you know.
It ends with me.
In the harvest time we
all went to the field...
where they were cutting the corn.
Everyone was chasing rabbits...
and then we had our tea
in the harvest fields.
The horses.
- Yeah?
- Mm-hmm.
The horses back then, they
were kept beautifully.
Dad used to dress them all
up, brass things and...
little horseshoes.
He'd put braids on them.
They used to be gorgeous.
What are your plans for tomorrow?
There was one...
Duke...
He was a Clydesdale I used to ride down
to the marshes...
every night when he finished working.
They were lovely days, really.
Go!
They're gone, for me.
Jane?
- But not for you.
- Jane.
You know, it's different for you.
In some ways it's easier.
You haven't got the war, people don't die
as much as they did back then...
but in some ways it's more disjointed.
You've got to make your own life.
One that you love
and you can't be afraid of the...
the time.
Time is shiftable.
There are moments in my life
that I would trade 60 years...
to have back again. That's the truth.
You'll know the truth when you find it.
It'll come to you like something
you've known before...
rather than something you're learning
for the first time.
- Oh, sorry.
- That's okay.
- Bollocks!
- What is it?
Are you all right?
- Are you okay?
- Yeah. I stubbed my toe.
It's bleeding.
It's fine.
It's fine, it's fine. It's fine.
Are you finished in there?
Yes.
Fuck.
I met these backpackers last night.
Frank and Elsa.
She's French, he's German.
They're going to Tibet.
And I'm going with them.
I want you to come with me.
- Hi.
- Hi.
How are you?
Knackered.
Long day?
God, when are they not?
I don't think I'd jump
at doing another stint like this.
How's the writing going?
I'm feeling inspired.
That's fantastic.
I think I've figured out the key
to finishing the project.
Are you listening?
You found the key to
finishing this project.
The water here tastes so funny.
Have you ever cheated on me?
- Oh, Jane.
- Have you?
Can we not?
Have you?
Absolutely not.
Why did you take such a
long time to answer that?
Because I'm sick...
Of what, Leonard? Of it being so hard?
- Yes.
- Tedious?
I hate talking about sex with you.
- Is that what we're talking about?
- Normal people talk about sex, Leonard.
And we don't?
There's just huge vacant lots...
that we don't discuss.
Like what?
Is there anything you want to ask me?
Why? ls there anything
you want to tell me?
I just wanna connect.
- So you don't feel that we're connected.
- Do you?
I love you.
I get it, Leonard.
I get it.
It's always been this big, serious,
grave thing for us.
Sex has consequences,
life and death, mostly death.
- Jane, please.
- Let me guess. You don't want to talk about it?
No, that's not what I'm saying.
You're just...
Do you want to have children, Leonard?
Of course I did.
Not "did". Do you want to have children?
So did you, but...
Say it.
- Jane.
- Say it.
I can't have children, Leonard.
I never will.
And if we keep trying, they keep dying.
- Please, Jane. Please.
- Again and again and again.
How does that make you feel?
- It's not your fault.
- How does it make you feel, Leonard?
How does it make you feel?
You will never be a father.
- We can adopt.
- That's not what you want. Is it?
Is that what you want?
Because I think about it all the time.
That the one thing you always wanted...
I will never be able to give you.
- What are you trying to do, Jane?
- I just want to know that there's a reason...
for it all.
You're not curious about me, Leonard.
Not really.
- What do you want me to know?
- You shouldn't have to ask.
I feel as if you want me
to be someone I'm not.
Someone that I've never been.
I'm leaving you.
I've been seeing someone else.
Seeing?
Caleb.
- That kid?
- Yes.
That kid, that child,
that kid you've known for two days?
- It's been longer than that.
- Please tell me you're joking.
- Time is shiftable.
- I don't get it.
Leonard.
I don't get it.
He's asked me to travel with him.
Are you sleeping with him?
What do you think?
I kept waiting for you to see it,
to smell it, to sense it.
- So, what? I failed your test?
- You don't see me!
- I'm sorry.
- For what?
- I'm sorry.
- For what?
- I shouldn't have done that.
- No.
- Losing my temper. I shouldn't have done that.
- You had every right...
- to lose your temper.
- No, no, no, no.
If you think that this is what's gonna
make you feel better, then you should go.
You should go with him.
You've been through a terrible...
- terrible thing, Jane.
- No.
- That is not what this is about.
- Of course it is.
- You don't love me!
- That's rubbish. That's rubbish.
This is your ticket.
The day after my performance...
meet me at the train station.
Our train leaves at 4:30.
We'll go home together.
I want you to do what you need to do.
And then come back to me.
No questions asked, no guilt.
This is good.
Hi.
Hi.
You want some?
No thanks.
Frank and Elsa are...
comin' over in a couple hours.
Frank bought a car, so we're gonna...
we're gonna head out
in a couple weeks...
or so, you know.
We're thinking about...
driving through Romania, and then...
Ukraine, then down through Russia,
and through Kazakhstan...
and straight into Tibet.
Jane!
You've got to come over to this side.
The train's gonna be here in a minute.
I wouldn't want to
live to be 100.
- Why not?
- I'm not telling you why not.
Now shut that thing off.