INT. JUTTA AND CHRIS’S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
FRAU KNOBLOCH
Jutta, I like Bob.
ANGELIQUE
Me too.
FRAU KNOBLOCH
We should keep this one.
Chris enters with Chinese food.
FRAU KNOBLOCH
But not this one.
Frau Knobloch and Angelique exit.
JUTTA
Thanks.
CHRIS
(suppressing anger)
You could have picked me up at the airport.
JUTTA
I told you, we were at the museum.
Chris finds it increasingly difficult to hide his anger.
CHRIS
You left me alone in an interrogation room in your country.
JUTTA
Sometimes you don’t deal well with people. It’s even straining my mother.
CHRIS
(on the verge of bursting)
Your mother is a --
Jutta grabs the riding crop and slams it down, making a loud noise. Chris is so startled he nearly jumps through the roof. He quickly backs down.
JUTTA
Shhhhhhh!
CHRIS
Sorry. But she doesn’t understand what I’m saying anyway.
JUTTA
If you can’t try harder, this whole thing won’t work out.
CHRIS
What thing?
JUTTA
Us.
CHRIS
(gaining courage)
Maybe you’re right.
Blowing up, Jutta slams down the riding crop again, startling Chris, but not as much as before.
JUTTA
What?
CHRIS
(quickly backing down)
Sorry. Sometimes I think you don’t accept me for what I am. You’re a little domineering, and you like to give orders.
JUTTA
Indication of an efficient business personality. My father was a great businessman. I have to live up to his standard.
INT. JUTTA AND CHRIS’S APARTMENT, KITCHEN - NIGHT
Bob cries while cleaning the kitchen. He perks up when he hears the loud arguing in the next room.
CHRIS (O.S.)
You can’t hold me to his standard.
JUTTA (O.S.)
That’s an understatement.
CHRIS (O.S.)
I’m a creative person.
INT. JUTTA AND CHRIS’S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
JUTTA
You need structure, responsibility, a real career.
CHRIS
I’m too busy playing house-husband. Anyway, I didn’t get the assistant manager promotion. Gotta’ look for a new job.
Jutta slams down the riding crop, startling Chris mildly.
INT. JUTTA AND CHRIS’S APARTMENT, KITCHEN - NIGHT
Bob continues cleaning, listens with enjoyment.
JUTTA (O.S.)
You never finish anything. What would my father think?
INT. JUTTA AND CHRIS’S APARTMENT, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
CHRIS
I know your dad was incredible, and I know I’ll never be as good. I’ll improve and always strive to be something more. But I’ll always be Chris, not your father.
Bob enters, wearing an apron and carrying a duster.
BOB
I finished the kitchen.
JUTTA
I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.
BOB
You’re not gonna’ fire me, are you?
JUTTA
As long as I have a job with the company, so do you.
BOB
Thank you. You have no idea how much that means --
JUTTA
You can go now.
Silence as Bob leaves.
CHRIS
You gonna’ fire him?
JUTTA
Yeah. His pea-sized brain isn’t worth the air space it occupies.
CHRIS
You lied.
JUTTA
If a subordinate knows he’s getting fired, he’s a liability. Incompetent people make you look good. And when a mistake happens, you blame it on them and send ‘em out the door. It’s Bob’s time now.
CHRIS
How you gonna’ tell him?
JUTTA
I’ll give him a call one evening and tell him to pick up his box in the morning.
CHRIS
Is that what you’ll do when it’s my time? ... My box is already packed.
Jutta is speechless. Chris picks up his suitcase and leaves.
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I like the economy of language you use in the dialogue. Keeps action moving at a real-time pace.
ReplyDeleteBut I have a little difficulty in understanding why Jutta is so attractive to Chris--or to anyone, really. She seems like an irredeemable b*tch.
But then again I came in around scene 17. I'll go backward for more exposition. There must be some underlying issues in Chris' background where he'd feel the need to toady up to a hopeless sc*b like Jutta. Or maybe she has some emotional vulnerability of her own that Chris touched upon but hasn't learned to develop or systematically exploit.
Thanks for your comments, Neddie! You should read the screenplay from the start to have a more full understanding of the relationship. It's rocky for Jutta and Chris, but they're very much in love. Jutta is under great pressure to live up to her dead father's hardcore business man image, but is in great need of the escapes Chris provides through his dreams. Chris, on the other hand, who never was able to achieve anything in his life, has great respect of Jutta's career achievement and appreciates the substance and structre she brings to his life.
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