"Subtitles:" "Nathbot ~ bufgelfly ~" "Is this blouse OK?" " It's pretty." " I look like his mother." " Not his actual mother, but" " Whose mother?" "Aaron's." "It's Family Day at his board-and-care, I wanna look..." "Sane?" "When you go there, what you feel is how much work it must be to be insane, I guess." "I've got my purse, my gloves..." "Were are my keys?" "Why do you always know where the keys are?" " I'm alert." " Someone has got to be." "Wait, wait, you've got to take the cookies we made for him." " Give him a kiss for me." " Me too." "Alright, see you later." "Bye, Mom." "Guess what?" "Zoe, don't make me beg." "Jessie found these pictures in the attic." "Of Aaron." "Like, when he was in high school." "He's always with all these girls." "And he was cute." "Like, deeply cute." "Look at this, he's juggling." "Did you know Uncle Aaron could do that?" "I didn't know he could do anything." "Annie?" "You wanna tell us about your mom?" "Annie's my third girl." "She's been here nineteen years." "And I have fourteen grandchildren." "And how are you doing, Miriam?" "Miriam has done well here." "My wife, may she rest in peace, before she died... always said that... this is where Miriam belongs." "I'm glad that she feels safe here..." "It's true, Herbie, I'm his only child..." "It is also true that he is... my only child." " Miriam." " Yes, and you go, Daddy." "Go, Daddy lion." " Roar, lion." " Stop!" "You're right, Herbie." "So, out of the blue, I get the call, an independent living situation has opened up." "They want me to recommend someone." "So you thought of Aaron?" "I think he's ready, with help." "I mean, the place is close," "I'll check in, you and Judy can go by whenever you want." "Think about it." "Miriam got me clocks for my birthday." "She says, "if you're gonna live independenty, you need clocks."" "Do you agree?" "Well..." "Yeah, I guess." "That's Miriam's." "Sorry." "Miriam is a very wise woman." "I can see that, she seems really" "Miriam is a name in the Bible." "I think I knew that." "Where she walked, fields burst into bloom." "Never heard you mention her before." " She's in a movie." " She is?" "Casablanca." "We watch it every night after meds." "Just me and her." "When I have my own place, I'm going to play golf, grill chicken, and have dogs." "Miriam says the sky's the limit." "What does that mean?" "That possibilities are endless, I guess." "The sky is a phenomenon." "Yeah, Aaron, it is." "Like Miriam." "She said I should write things down." ""Aaron's list of dreams."" "Long list." "I love her, Lily." "I only want to live independently if I can independently live with Miriam." "Have you talked to Shelley about all this?" "Where she walks, fields burst into bloom." " The girls made you some cookies." " Chocolate chip?" "So, you know this Miriam?" "I think she is so beautiful." "Go, Aaron!" "Why didn't you warn me?" "He says that he loves her!" "I know, isn't that great?" "What?" "Skip it." "Go on, say it, I already judge you." "Aaron doesn't know what he loves." "And this Miriam woman, she looks like she can't even take care of herself." "She's supposed to take care of Aaron, too?" "And he's gonna need a lot of help{\ if he's gonna do this}." "Yeah, isn't it where we come in?" "Tomorrow, when you awake, you'll fall deeply in love with the first creature you see." "Does it bother you that I have a crazy brother?" "Doesn't bother me that you have a crazy sister." "He says he loves this girl." " {\So?" "}That's a good thing, right?" " I don't know." "She has him making this list of dreams." "You should hear him." "He's never gonna be a golfer." " Lucky him." " I'm serious." "It's {\very }bad for him to get ouf of balance." "Believe me, I've seen it." "So, love's bad." "Listen, before he was sick, he was the most sensitive person I've ever met." "When it came to being in love..." "God, he had no sense of proportion." "I have no sense of proportion, when it comes to you." "Somebody get that, please!" "I'm doing my nails!" "Grace?" "I'm going, I'm going." "Hi." "Mind if I smoke?" "Excuse me?" "What?" "It's good to ask, right?" "It's good manners?" "Right?" "I took the long way." "Oh, hi, Aaron." " Come in." " Thanks, Grace." " What's..." " This is Miriam." "My better half." "Can you tell me what that means?" "Hey, Uncle Aaron." "Miriam, I'm Grace and that's Zoe." "Hi Grace!" "Hi Zoe!" "I think it sort of says that men are the worse half." "Oh, Lily!" "Hi, we came to mix on a social level." "I hope that's OK." "Do the people at the board-and-care know that you're here?" "Oh, here, it's... have..." "Have candy, Lily." "Thank you." "That's so thoughtful." "How did you get here?" "We took the bus." "We get free bus-riding lessons." "Sometimes I'm Rosa Parks, except I won't let it get around." "The driver was Ralph Kramden today, and I was Alice, his wife, who he was married to before Jackie Kennedy." "OK, well, can I take your coats?" "Grace, can you get the tea cups with the flowers, please?" "What are these doing here?" "Grace?" "Oh, it's a hostess gift." "I don't like to come empty-handed." "There's great studs in there." "Some of them were my husbands and some were my wives and... and..." "And you have a... a nice house and garden." "Sorry." "It's OK." "Who would like some tea?" "I do." "He likes mostly milk and just a little tea." "I know." "What would you like, Miriam?" "I wanna be with Miriam, Lily." "I know, you told me." "We ran away." " We left the board-and-care." " And we're not going back." "We wanna be together and they say no." "But I wanna be with her, Lily." "I need to be with her." "I have to be." "I have to have shoe trees." "And vacuum cleaners and coffee cups and" "That's just ours." "Get out your list." " What're we supposed to do?" " The first thing we do is call Shelley." "Are they allowed to just leave?" " I have no idea." " Guys, it's not a prison." "Hold on, Shelley will know what to do." "I don't know why this is unnerving me so much." "I had a pound and a half of shrimp in here." "Where is it?" "So, how did you guys meet?" "We were on the same anti-psychotics." "Anti-tremor." "Oh, absolutely." "And we started talking." "And her teeth were all musical notes." "Baby!" "You never said that before!" "Shelley, it's Lily." "So, what do we do?" "Well, it's OK about Aaron, right?" "For the moment, sure." "But Miriam should go home, she's not authorized to stay with you." "Aaron should stay, Miriam is not authorized to." "I don't know, running away is enough drama for one day." "Let her stay one night, I'll cover for you." " It's not a legal problem{\, don't worry}." " It isn't?" "It's not a prison, Lily." " Shelley, come on, let's go{\, we're fighting the clock}!" " I said I'm on the phone!" "I gotta go, I'll call you in the morning." "What'd she say?" "I guess they're both staying." "So, you guys will stay here tonight." "Jessie is at her mom's, you can have the attic." "And then tomorrow, Miriam has to go back." "What d'you mean?" "Aaron, Miriam doesn't have permission from her father to be out." "She doesn't need permission, she voted in the last election." "I voted for Ralph Nader." " Mom?" " Yes, sweetie?" "Something's burning." "Sorry!" "Lily, Lily, sorry!" "Sorry, I was making tea." " I'm good at tea." " Then why didn't you put any water?" "I'm scared." "I'm scared, Lily." " Other people's houses scare me." " It's OK." " We're all fine." " We're fine, we're all fine." "OK, who wants... who wants ice-cream after dinner?" " Of course." " We should eat first, right?" "Where were we?" "We were talking about going to Aaron's apartment tomorrow and then get Miriam home." "Aaron, listen, sweetie." " She has to go." " Why can't she come with us?" "Honey, Shelley said she had to go back." " I'm not going back." " That's for Miriam's father to decide." " I didn't vote for him!" " I don't understand." " The rules" " I don't understand." "Listen." "No, no!" "We need our own kitchen!" "We need our own locks, windows, and stuff like that." " And windows." " You'll have those." "What?" "Why they want me to be alone when I am already?" "I don't understand!" "The summer he was 18, Aaron decided he wanted to go to clown school." "He was an amazing juggler." "While he was there, he met a girl named Jaimie Davenport, who trained horses at the circus next door." "One night, he called to say he wasn't going back to school{\ in fall}, that he was gonna marry Jaimie Davenport and join the circus." "Get out your list." "It's OK, I'll remember." "What d'you mean, they remind you of you and Sam?" "How?" "You know{\ how it is}, when it's working with someone, and you start to get that sense of..." "You know, your own list of dreams." "Judy, it's not the same." "Why?" "You don't know what happens to Aaron when he gets..." " attached to someone." " What do you mean?" "Forget it." "I don't wanna see him hurt." "He's already hurt." "Look, Lily, he's never able to want anything." "But now he wants things and it looks to me like she's helping him get there." "And yeah, OK, maybe she could use a bit more shampoo, a little less makeup, but I think we should thank God for her." "Do you have everything you need?" "Got extra blankets, it can get chilly." "You don't like me." "What do you mean?" "I like you very much." "No, you don't." "I'm not very likable." "I, of course, had already imagined the girl that Aaron would marry." "I even had a name for her:" "Caroline." "They'd meet at Oberlin, backpack through Europe, and read Steppenwolf to each other in trains." "Miriam, how can you say that?" "I know Aaron likes you a whole lot." " You think so?" " I know so." "Caroline would be a pediatrician, and every year she and I would go to New York for 3 days to see some shows." "Aaron is going to get a job." "He's what?" "Yeah, we need money." "I need real pearls, and I don't believe wives should work." "Are you saying that he is getting a job?" "Lesbians work, but not wives." "Jay Leno is a lesbian." "We're gonna be special guest stars on his show, Tonight Show." "They'd marry in Paris, Aaron and Caroline." "On one of those boats, on the Seine, with the lights... what are they called?" "Aaron, do you have everything you need?" "Yeah, I'm fine." " You sure?" " Oh, yes." "Miriam has substantial breasts." "Night." "The blonde wig!" " I'm gonna say something terrible." " Great, I've been waiting." "Zoe's right: she smells!" "Well, Aaron smells a little, too." "Much much less!" "He wants to marry her." "Can he?" "I don't know how she could {\ever }take care of him, she almost burned down the kitchen." "You almost burned down the kitchen." "That was Thanksgiving!" "In their old days, this would be so easy." "They would just live with us forever." "You know, like Boo Radley." "What if my mother gets sick, and your mother, which they will because everyone dies." "What if they didn't have anywhere to go,{\which they don't, } we'd have to take them in, which we have to" "You're spiraling." "Sorry." "Good night." "I wish Daddy were alive." "Not that he'd know what to do." "Another illusion shattered." "You know, those boats with lights, in Paris on the Seine..." "What are they called?" "Mom?" "What is it, Zoe?" "Can you hear them?" "Stay here." "This can't be happening." " Zoe." " I wanna go back to bed." "How are the eggs?" "Breakfast is an important meal, Lily." "I'll keep that in mind at my new place." "Remember this is the way Grandma used to make 'em?" "Grandma's kitchen used to smell of onions, and malt balls." "There's something we need to talk about." "And I want you to try to hear me and not get upset right away." "Miriam needs to go back the board-and-care today." "After we go to your place." "Do you have a pencil?" "Miriam says I should write things down." "Yes, I know that." " Mom?" " Just give me a second here, honey." "I'm putting down eggs." " Eggs." "It's good." " I'm gonna have dozens of eggs." "Aaron, we've all talked about it and we've agreed." "Miriam can come look at your new apartment, but after that, she has to go back, she's not authorized to be here." "Do you understand?" "Sometimes, things confuse me, Lily." "So I don't understand." "Miriam has to go back today." "Oh, sweetie." "I'd like to go upstairs, if that's OK." "Of course, sweetie." "So, you're kicking her out?" "I'm not kicking her out, she can't be here, it's illegal." "What a relief." "Stop it, Judy." "What am I supposed to say?" "That you'd be much happier if Aaron never saw her again." " That is so not true!" " I think" " It {\really }bothers me that you{\ you'd say}" " That their love is really touching and beautiful and you should support it with all your heart." "Oh, really." "OK, why don't we think about that?" "Why don't we make a list, since lists seem to be the new thing around here?" "Number one, how do they go to the store?" "How do they cook without burning the house down?" "How do they do laundry?" "Would they do laundry?" "And god forbid, what if she gets pregnant, or one of them gets sick?" "There are answers to every one of those questions." "Relationships are hard enough when people have normal damage." "Aaron has never handled his own life." " Let alone hers." " He loves her." "So what if they have problems?" "I would think that if anyone would {\especially }understand that, it would be you." "Oh, great." "So now I'm Cruella DeVil!" " I'm gonna see how he is." " Yeah, {\why don't you do that?" "} cause clearly I don't care!" "Why don't you both of you just take them today?" "I'll see it another time, I have a lot to do here." " That was a cat." " Definitely." "I have my own bathroom." "You wanna see?" "This is my kitchen, this is my stove." "Cabinets are over here." "When my father heard Aaron wasn't going back to school," "I remember him screaming on the phone," ""I don't care who the f--- this girl is, you're not getting married at nineteen years old!"" "My refrigerator." "This is where I'll put the eggs!" "Until my father went down to Florida and just... brought Aaron back, I don't even know how." "That's when he started to change." "This is my sunlight." "You happy for me?" "We didn't know that he was writing her five times a day, calling her all hours of the night and not going to class." "I guess we should have known." "I gotta say, this seems like a great place, Aaron." " Thank you, Rick." " I wish I had my own apartment." "We have all this stuff {\just sitting }in the attic." "Dishes and sheets and stuff." "And I've got tons of stuff." "I've got four bun cake pans." "You could use a good bun cake pan." "Places need two people." "One person is a room, but two... are a home." "Right?" "Read... read my list." "Mailbox... doorbell... cat sounds... somebody calling out supper..." "Ice trays." "I'm Herbert Miller, Mrs Sammler." "Miriam's father." "Yes, I know." "Please, come in, it's cold out there." "It's not cold." "Not for me." "Lemon or... milk?" "Lemon, thank you." "I had some biscottes somewhere." "Tell me, what was your brother like, Mrs Sammler, before his illness?" "It's Lily." "Well, he was..." " God, that was a long time ago." " But you do remember." "Yes." "He was wonderful." "Was he?" "He was kind of like a hero to me, because he was... fearless and passionate and..." "I always envied his depth of feelings." "People used to stop my wife and myself in church, and say "you have a very beautiful daughter"." "Of course, we knew something was wrong." "It was there by the time she was three." "I'm sorry." "Before I was the Lion King, I was Gandhi." "And before that I was Rocky, and before that, Errol Flynn." "Well, Robin Hood." "It's not bad company." "Mrs Sammler, do you think Aaron can live on his own?" "Well, he's..." " He's on good medication." " Because I don't believe Miriam can." " How can you be sure?" " Because she was on her own once." "Because the president I voted for said the government shouldn't pay for mental hospitals." "People like Miriam should take care of themselves." "It was her family who should take care." "Except when the family can't find her." "I'm a retired cop, Mrs Sammler." "And I know every street in Chicago." "It took me two months to find her." "Really?" "And she'd been raped, shot up with drugs..." " beaten." " Oh, my God." "Perhaps your brother is ready, but Mrs Sammler, Miriam is not." "She's the most important thing in the world to me." "And she will never be ready to live on her own." "Miriam Rose." "I brought you gloves, dear, it's cold outside." "Mr. Miller, this is my husband Rick." "My daughter Grace." " Mr. Miller." " My sister Judy." "And my other daughter Zoe." "Hello, Zoe." " Put them on, dear." " I don't want gloves." "I don't want gloves." "Alligator, carburetor, masturbator..." " Miriam." " Herb!" "I brought your medication." "No, I don't want my medication!" "I want Aaron!" "I want my life!" "I'm very sorry about this." " Tell them!" " Grace, can you get Zoe upstairs?" "Tell them, tell them!" "One person... is just a room." " What do you mean?" " Tell them." "What do you mean, "one person is just a room"?" "He wants to live with my daughter." "Can I ask him how he plans to do it?" "Will you be able to give her her medication, keep her from wandering off?" " Make sure she doesn't injure herself" " Don't talk to him this way." "That's the problem." "People will." "Daddy, please, no!" "Lily, please." "Aaron needs Mr. Miller to leave right now." "Sorry." "You love your brother, Mrs Sammler, I can see that." "But you know what I'm talking about, don't you?" " I don't know anything anymore." " Sure you do." "I'm asking you a simple question." "Your brother deserves an honest answer." "Look at them both." "Do you believe that this could ever work?" "No." "I'm sorry." "My Aaron!" "Miriam, let's go." "I want Aaron!" "I want my life!" "It's OK." " If you want me to call Shelley{\, I will}..." " No, not yet." " You mind if I go upstairs to get" " Yes, I mind!" "Very well, then I'll be in the car." "If she's not down within an hour," "I will make the call." "It's OK, Aaron." " I think I should go upstairs." " I'm sorry." "When she gets tired, she gets upset, I {\think I }should go{\ upstairs}." "Go ahead." "I can't believe you." " Gracie..." " Grace, give you mom" "You think everyone has to be just like you to be happy." "Well you don't seem so happy to me, Mom!" " Why do you get to decide?" " I didn't decide anything." " Just how he should live his life." " She's his daughter, he's deciding!" "Why does it hurt you for Aaron to have one little moment of happiness?" "This isn't happiness." "There is no happiness." "It's gonna make things worse{\, not better}." "How can you say that?" "I don't see how we can decide that for him" "Honey, what do you know about any of this?" "Judy knows." "Don't you?" "Tell him about Jaimie Davenport." "It was 20 years ago." "What, he got upset when she broke up with him." "Upset doesn't exactly describe it." "What are you talking about?" "I found him, Rick." "He wasn't answering our phone calls, so I went up to Madison, and I found him in his room." "He hadn't eaten and he hadn't slept and there was... blood everywhere." "Old blood, because he had been cutting himself a little at a time for two weeks." "And he was practically dead." "Why?" "Because this girl dumped him." "That's what happened the last time Aaron was in love." "How could I not know this?" "Why didn't you tell me?" "Cause you were in high school." "Because Daddy made me promise to never ever tell anybody." "You think I don't want Aaron to be happy, Judy?" "I would give anything for Aaron to have one day... one minute of happiness." "My dad drove up and he brought Aaron home and put him in a hospital." "And he's been there, more or less, ever since." "He's packing, and..." "I'm 3 hours late at the bookstore, so I'm gonna go." "I still think you're wrong." "And I can't believe you didn't trust me enough to tell me." "Judy, it wasn't about trust, it was about fear." "And I'm really sorry." "I had to use your bathroom." "That's OK." " Can I come in?" " Of course." "It's your room." "So glad you remembered." "Grandpa's initials." "Philip Allan Brooks." "I love old suitcases." " Can I sit with you?" " Yes." " I know you like to be asked." " I do, thank you." "I liked your place." "It will be fun to visit" "What do you mean?" "I'm gonna go back to the board-and-care." "I can't leave something which I've never had, which is something of my own." "You mean someone." "I mean her." "I know." "Do you?" "I know." "He's still there." "I know." "Maybe we should talk to Miriam." "He was the lead detective on those 8 nurses who got murdered a thousand years ago." "It was a big deal if you lived in Chicago." "I met Aaron for the first time at your dad's funeral." "Remember?" "And then..." "I wound up alone with him in the kitchen that first day." "He was so nice." "He's incredibly nice." "And I was thinking..." ""This is the loneliest person I've ever seen."" "I could have been that lonely." "But I got lucky." "What do you mean?" "I got lucky." "I found this... phenomenon." "Rick, he's never gonna be lucky." "Don't you see?" "Everyone in this house" "Judy, you and Grace, you're lost in your own romantic fantasy." "This woman can't love him because she can't see him." "I's not her fault;" "I understand that." "It's just the way it is." "I don't know, Lil." "Sometimes I think romantic fantasy is all we have." "I have to get this going." "After we left Aaron at the hospital that night, Daddy took me to dinner." "Chicago-style pizza deep-dish crust." ""When I'm gone, you will have to take care of him", he said." "I laughed at him, "What do you mean, when you're gone?"" "It snowed that night." "A record." "There's always some record." "I forgot my suitcase." " It's OK, Aaron." " I know." "I'm ready." "I don't want to keep my father waiting." "You know I can't go against what your father thinks is best." "I know." "Cause you have a life." " I do?" " Yeah." "You have enough for six lives." "Your life makes me nervous." "Aaron says there's kids I have even met." "Oh, you mean Rick's kids." "Too many people to worry about." "I worry too much about... one person." "You mean about yourself?" "I worry about Aaron." "So do I." "I worry that he won't get the things he wants." "Oh, you mean... his list." "Oh, he's never going to get those things." "Not most of them, anyway." "See..." "Aaron looks at things, and they say," ""You'll never have me."" "They turn away." "But I don't turn away." "In my eyes he sees..." ""maybe"." "And that's what I am:" "his maybe." "His maybe." "He should go to his place." "On his own." "He shouldn't go back to the board-and-care, {\there are }too many crazy people." "Will you tell him that?" "Will you tell him that for me?" "I tried to convince him." "I'll tell him." "I tried to convince him, Lily." "Lily, I did." "But he only listens to you." "You really love him, don't you?" "He's my list of dreams." "Can I sit with you for a minute?" "Sure." "Well?" "Aaron is assaulted by his emotions." "It's almost as if... his own feelings were somehow toxic... to him." "God knows, he's very emotional about your daughter." "Exactly." "Which is why I've been trying to keep them {\these two people }from plunging into something they couldn't handle." "I know." "Cause if Aaron gets his heart broken, he might not survive." "And I'm not being dramatic, it could literally kill him." "So?" "We have an agreement, then?" "Maybe not, cause I..." "You know, Mr. Miller, I think I finally realized that Aaron is never ever going to get better." "He's gonna die a very sick man." "And I think that's been the hardest thing for me to accept." "There's nothing to protect, cause he suffers so much already." "The question is, is there a chance that something that's not suffering," "that's beautiful, even if it's temporary." " Mrs. Sammler." " Lily." "Lily." "I'm a cop." "In my job, I had to accept who people are and what they're capable of." "Miriam is limited." "There's no chance." "Just because they're limited at some things doesn't mean they're limited at everything." "You know, just now, I was watching them, sitting on the sofa?" "And I realized that all I've been asking myself is "Are they gonna hurt each other?" "Are they gonna get robbed and killed or who knows what?"" "It never occurred to me to ask if she loves him." "Because I didn't think they were capable of it." "She really really loves him, Mr. Miller." "I have no doubt about that now." "For 35 years now, it's been nothing but this." "Nothing but the call every 3 weeks that she'd injured herself..." "Or that they wanted to change her medication, and I... just don't know how to hope anymore." "I understand." "But it's not about us or our hope." "So what?" "Let 'em move in together and be a disaster?" "Yeah." "Or just..." "less of a disaster." "Or maybe, God willing, just a big mess." "It couldn't be much worse than half of people's lives I know." "She'll drive him insane." "God help him if he doesn't fit into her movie." "My father would've said something like that." "He had a restaurant, Phil's." "We loved Phil's." "Come inside, it's cold." "All right." "So Aaron and Caroline would get married in Paris, and I would meet a handsome French artist who lived in a loft." "And at night we'd go out on those boats, those damn boats with the lights on the Seine, what are they called?" "Bateaux-mouches!" "Oh, well." "Whatever."