"Wow." "This smells incredible, Tess." "Honey, will you wake up and stop smelling the coffee?" "Sooner or later, you've got to drink it." "It's like life." "You never really know how good it is until you taste it." "And all coffee doesn't taste the same." "What's espresso?" "I always hear about espresso." "Strong and bitter." "Some people like it like that." "Straight-ahead, rich, undiluted." "But there's another side to an espresso kind of life:" "heartburn." "Well, that's the price you pay for all that flavor." "You make it sound so dangerous." "Well, I've had my flings with danger." "But my choice of coffee is a good ol' cup of joe." "Straight-ahead, honest, no camouflage." "'Cause when you try to hide what's underneath, you just end up feeling miserable." "Well, what are you doing here?" "Monica, you're going to meet a woman now who doesn't know how to deal with a plain cup of joe." "So she keeps covering it up and smoothing away the edges." "I found him." "You found him?" "One of them?" "But they seem so happy, Tess." "I made it." "Look who's here!" "(laughing)" "Happy birthday, baby!" "(laughing)" "Oops." "Oh, Mom!" "Any questions?" "♪ When you walk down the road ♪" "♪ Heavy burden, heavy load ♪" "♪ I will rise and I will walk with you ♪" "♪ I'll walk with you ♪" "♪ Till the sun don't even shine ♪" "♪ Walk with you ♪" "♪ Every time, I tell you I'll walk with you ♪" "♪Walk with you♪" "♪ Believe me, I'll walk with you. ♪" "Great." "Oh, just get out of the way." "How do you get yourself stuck in something like this?" "Oh, get out." "Hello." "What?" "Are you Elizabeth Jessup?" "Who wants to know?" "(laughs softly)" "Can I help you?" "No, I don't need any help." "What do you want?" "My name is Monica." "I understand that you're writing your memoirs and I've been sent to help you finish them." "Well, Monica." "I haveneverhad a deadline in my entire life that I didn't make." "Once I turned in a story in Saigon on the back of my last clean T-shirt." "Hmm?" "So you can go back and tell those pathetic publishers that Elizabeth Jessup has never missed a deadline." "But your manuscript was due two months ago." "Yeah, well, that was their deadline." "As far as I'm concerned, I'm right on schedule." "Before you leave, you see a newspaper around here?" "See?" "Kids, they don't care." "They don't care where they throw the thing." "Up, down, on the porch, through the window." "Most of the time it ends right up here on the roof." "Can I help you?" "What is this, your big break or something?" "Hmm?" "You sit at the feet of a legendary journalist and one day you write your own book and you call yourself my prot￩g￩?" "Is that what this is?" "You're not that legendary, you know." "I'm "not that legendary, you know."" "Oh, brother, this...!" "(gasping)" "Would you still like me to leave?" "Or should I stay?" "Hmm." "Well, this is just a trial run 'cause I really don't need you." "But if it gets you a paycheck, I guess you could stick around." "Want a drink?" "Oh, I'd love a cup of non-fat, decaf mocha latte with a little nutmeg on the side." "Or a cup of joe." "I got iced tea." "Well, I haven't worked up to tea yet." "But how about some water?" "Do you take dictation?" "Yes, perfectly." "I'm really fast." "Good." "I might send you out a lot to do research." "I'm a stickler for detail." "It's my trademark." "Uh, yes, I know." "(phone ringing)" "Oh, I'll get it." "Uh-uh." "No, no, no, no!" "Don't answer that!" "I've been getting a lot of crank calls lately." "I can handle it." "Hello." "This is Monica." "Mrs. Jessup's new assistant." "(laughing)" "Yes, it happened just like that." "Uh, certainly." "Would you hold on?" "It's your daughter and she wants to know what time you want them to come over." "Come over for what?" "Well, it looks like you invited them to dinner." "Oh, yeah." "I forgot about that." "Yesterday was my granddaughter's birthday and some idiot waiter dropped the cake and I suggested they might come over tonight and we could try again, but... uh..." "How about 8:00?" "Great." "We'll see you then." "Bye-bye." "Gosh, you haven't even met Sydney and already you're talking like her." "She sounds lovely on the phone." "Mm-hmm, that's because you haven't met her yet." "The child's been contrary since the day she was born." "Which, I might add, was at a most inconvenient time." "The Six-day war." "I go into labor in London, fly home and have her and don't get back till day seven." "Wouldn't you know it?" "But a baby." "That's so much grander than any assignment." "Yes, like I said, you haven't met her yet." "The girl's picture is next to "milquetoast" in the dictionary." "No, seriously." "The only thing we have in common is we always choose the wrong men." "Hers die on her and... (sniffing) ...I just wore mine out." "Monica?" "M..." "Oh..." "Monica." "Well, this looks beautiful." "(laughs)" "And where the hell did you find this china?" "I haven't seen it since Kissinger came to dinner in '75." "Man, could he eat." "I found it in the back of your china cabinet." "Hope you don't mind." "Hmm, and what's this?" "Our conversation in the car today." "Get out." ""So, there I am" ""standing on the Great Wall of China, freezing my blooming bottom off..."" ""My blooming bottom"?" "Well, I, uh..." "I-I did a wee bit of editing." "(doorbell ringing)" "Mmm." "They're here." "(doorbell ringing)" "Coming." "Very nice." "Hi." "Mom." "Sydney." "Oh, there she is." "My girl." "Oh." "Hi, Grandma." "Hi, sweetie." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "ELIZABETH:" "She loves that music box." "Oh, you must be Monica." "Hello, Sydney." "Hi." "Monica's my new assistant." "I've just hired her and I have begged her to stay for dinner." "Oh." "Good." "The house looks so together." "I was inspired." "Anybody want a drink?" "Something smells good." "Mom hasn't cooked a real meal in years." "("Amazing Grace" playing)" "So, Beth, I hear you had a birthday yesterday." "You know, seven is a very important age." "I know." "I get to learn how to read." "Wow." "Your mother must be very proud of you." "Oh, I am." "She's my very special girl." "Anyone else want some iced tea?" "I want some." "Oh, dear, you're too young for iced tea." "But I'm seven now." "I know, that's what I mean." "Now where was I?" "Oh, yes, Paris." "God, I love Paris!" "One day I'm going to take you, Bethie." "And we'll stroll the Champs Elysees together and eat croque monsieur at midnight on the banks of the Seine." "Mommy, have you even been to Paris with Grandma?" "No, I haven't, honey." "Your mother wasn't interested in Paris, dear." "Travel makes her anxious." "It wasn't the traveling." "No?" "No." "("Amazing Grace" playing)" "I think the last lover I had in Rome was a new-wave director." "Now what was his name?" "For heaven's sake." "Mother?" "Don't give me that holier-than-thou pious little look of yours, Sydney." "When was the last time you had a lover?" "Might do you some good, you know." "A-a good brisk walk in the morning always does me a lot of good." "(laughing)" "That's enough" ""iced tea," Mother." "("Amazing Grace" playing)" "Can we please just have the cake and get this over with?" "Please?" "What cake?" "I'll get it." "Oh... for heaven's sakes, Bethie." "Aren't you tired of that damn thing by..." "Give it to me." "I can't stand it another minute." "That's it!" "That's it!" "Come on, Bethie, we're going to go." "Oh, don't go." "Here, have some birthday cake." "No, I'm sorry, Monica." "This party is over." "Uh, we'll be back tomorrow." "Can you save us some?" "Thank you." "She wants some cake, Sydney." "What she wants is a sober grandmother." "Come on, sweetie." "Sydney, I'm sorry." "I didn't realize." "What?" "That your mother has a drinking problem." "My mother doesn't have a drinking problem." "My mother is an alcoholic." "A little harder." "Good." "Doing good." "Okay." "Now, see, this is the first rule of journalism, darling." "You must learn to type faster than you think so you don't miss a story." "I think pretty fast, Grandma." "Yes, you certainly do, and you're going to make a wonderful reporter." "I didn't come here to clean out your files, Mother." "Can you just give me a general vicinity where I can find this?" "Sydney, why do you need your birth certificate?" "Because I got promoted, and the bank is running a new security check system." "Okay, Sydney's birth certificate, um..." "Check the file under "M" for Middle East." "(sighs)" "Got it." "Wow, look at this." ""Dear Liz... from Moshe Dayan."" "Whoo!" "She was quite a woman." "She still is." "(typing)" "Yeah." "(typewriter bell dings)" "Mother, what is this?" "What is it, dear?" "You're speaking at the Mayor's Centennial Kickoff?" "Uh, I don't want to talk about that right now, honey." "It's not until the 15th." "Thisisthe 15th." "Guess I'm not going, huh?" "No, but they're expecting you." "No, they're expecting a beautiful, intrepid foreign, roving correspondent, and... (sighs)" "Let's face it." "I'm not as roving as I used to be." "Lift those wrists up." "Well, maybe it's time you started again." "MAN:" "And so, on this, the 100th Anniversary of our city, it is only fitting that the best of the best be placed in our time capsule to represent us for eternity." "(camera shutter clicking)" "Which leads me to Elizabeth Jessup." "Elizabeth's distinguished career as a journalist of international reputation is second to none." "And her awards are too numerous to mention." "Oh, go on." "But they include the Foreign Press Medal, and of course, the Pulitzer Prize." "Yes." "She has been courageous in the face of war and disaster... and even politics." "(laughter)" "She has brought honor to herself, and credit to her hometown." "Ladies and gentlemen, Elizabeth Jessup." "MAN:" "Yeah." "(applause)" "(camera shutter clicking)" "Legendary." "Thank you." "(clears throat)" "I can't tell you what a thrill it is to be here with you today." "And the reason I can't tell you is because I forgot to write my speech." "(microphone feedback)" "(laughter)" "But I am touched that you're including me in your time capsule, or my writings, rather." "(laughter)" "I can't imagine I'd be comfortable inside that thing." "(laughter)" "But it would be a great honor to be interred with, um..." "What did you say is in there, Mayor?" "A pound of wheat." "A picture of our new library." "Boy." "That ought to set their hair on fire in 2094." "(uncomfortable laughter)" "How about a nude picture of me instead?" "(microphone feedback)" "Or all of us." "Right now." "That would do it, wouldn't it?" "Whoo!" ""Those guys a hundred years ago sure knew how to make history," they'll say." "That reminds me." "I saw the mayor naked once." "(clears throat)" "Dived right into a pool at the country club, and his shorts fell off." "Talk about a news flash." "Mom, shh." "That's enough." "Struggled against significant obstacles of the time..." "I-I'm sorry." "Uh, she's on antibiotics, and she shouldn't be drinking right now." "I'm not finished." "Mom, let's go." "You never like to see me... in the spotlight, do you, Sydney?" "ELIZABETH (laughing):" "You never..." "Elizabeth Jessup." "(applause)" "Mother, please sit down." "I will not." "I'm going home." "How dare you tell people" "I'm taking antibiotics." "Now where's the bathroom?" "Mom?" "Mom?" "(sighs)" "Do you have any idea what it's like to watch your own mother self-destruct?" "(sighs)" "(bird singing)" "(sighs)" "Yeah, I love her." "She's... she's my mother, but I've given up." "No, you must never give up, Sydney." "You know... you know what the really hard thing is?" "Is that I know, I know what I need to do, and I-I know what it's going to take." "It's just I can't do it alone." "Well, then, I'll help you." ""The mayor's comments were followed by the raucous" ""and humorous reflections of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elizabeth Jessup."" ""Raucous."" "They loved me." "I'm surprised they can spell "raucous."" "(doorbell rings)" "I'll get it." "What did I say?" "Don't get that." "I'm sorry, Elizabeth, but this time I have to." "(footsteps)" "Is something wrong?" "(sighs)" "Mom, we're here today because... because we love you." "Good." "Same here." "Now, I have work to do, you know?" "Mom..." "we're concerned about you and your drinking." "(door closes)" "This is Anita." "She's a counselor at the New Hope Center." "Hello, Elizabeth." "I've spoken with your family, and they've expressed to me their love for you." "They also feel that your drinking is getting in the way of your relationship with them." "They also agree that unless you get some help for your problem, you can no longer be part of their lives." "They've written you letters about their feelings and how your drinking has affected them." "I drew mine with pictures." "Elizabeth... after you hear their letters," "Sydney and I have arranged to take you to the New Hope Center for our rehab program." "This is the single most asinine thing you have ever done in your entire life." "Mom, we want to help you." "Help me, my ass." "You're trying to control me." "And I won't have it, do you hear?" "I won't!" "Now what I do in the privacy of my own home is none of your business." "ANITA:" "That's just the point, Elizabeth." "It has become their business." "That you'll use my granddaughter to get back at me for a problem thatyou have had with me ever since you could talk is reprehensible!" "Mom, your drinking is hurting her, too." "Get out of my house." "ANITA:" "You realize," "Elizabeth, your family will not have any contact with you until..." "I said, get out of my house!" "Elizabeth, please..." "Get out!" "All of you!" "Get out!" "And don't you ever come back." "You too, get out!" "Get out." "I'm available at this number 24 hours a day." "Whenever you're ready." "Out!" "Hello?" "Elizabeth?" "Oh..." "Oh, Elizabeth." "You don't want to give her that." "(sighs):" "Tess..." "Am I glad to see you." "It didn't go at all well yesterday." "Why do you think I'm here?" "You got some tomato juice?" "I don't think so." "Oh, never mind, I'll make it myself." "Lots of iced tea, though." "Why didn't you tell me from the start?" "Well, when you met Elizabeth, you made friends with a very strong and talented and interesting woman." "If you had known then what you know today, you might have just seen the alcoholic and not the woman." "And that's who we love, and that's who we want to help." "But she doesn't want any help." "Then it's up to you to help her want it." "This could take years." "You got somewhere to go?" "Tess, it's awful watching her destroy herself like this." "Well, think how it looks to her." "ELIZABETH:" "She's back..." "Little Mary Sunshine." "But she talks to herself just like me." "This is not comforting." "I think I'm going to leave the two of you alone." "ELIZABETH:" "Well, if you insist on being here," "I could use a Bloody Mary with some zip in it right now." "Well, here's one." "I'm afraid it's a bit zipless though." "Whew." "It reminds me of Moscow with Gromiko." "(chuckling)" "Elizabeth, don't you get tired of feeling like this?" "Don't you see what this is doing to you?" "You know where the door is, sugar." "All right..." "I'm sorry about yesterday." "And I can understand if you're worried, but Sydney always overreacts." "I have learned how to drink." "I had to." "Wasn't easy being a woman in my business and it still isn't, but when I was starting out, it was really a boys' club." "And if you wanted in, you drank." "Only trouble is." "I've had a couple of bad years, so I'm home a lot now and..." "Okay, maybe I drink a little more." "Sydney sees that and jumps to conclusions." "Don't worry about it." "It took a lot of courage for Sydney to do what she did yesterday." "Yeah, well... (clears throat)" "I am who I am, and she still doesn't get that." "I wish you could've seen her face when they introduced you the other day." "She's so proud of you." "Sure has a funny way of showing it." "She's showing you that she loves you enough to fight for you." "Well, did you come here to work or to gab?" "Got a lot of stuff for you to look through." "(doorbell rings)" "Mom." "So I can't come in now?" "Mom, I'm just trying to help you." "Then how about showing a little kindness and letting me in?" "I can't." "I can't put up with what you're doing." "All I'm doing is trying to give my granddaughter a birthday gift." "And she can't accept it." "Well, why don't we ask her?" "!" "Mother..." "Mother, not until you get some help, some professional help, we can't have anything to do with you." "I'm sorry." "Sorry?" "You're not sorry." "You're jealous." "This is just the stunt your father would've pulled." "This house is falling apart." "And here it is." "The pin from my ejection seat." "The pilot gave this to you?" "Honey, we lost two wheels in ground fire." "There was no way I was going to try to land that thing." "He thought it was the least I deserved." "(chuckling)" "Well... time for iced tea." "You think Sydney's right, don't you?" "Yes, I do." "If I want to see Beth, I guess I have to play along and show up at a meeting or... something." "I deeply resent this though, just for the record." "So I guess I better find that silly card... that I threw away." "Here it is." "Mm." "She must've been dropping these things like bread crumbs." "All right, ready or not, here I come." "Look at them." "This is pathetic." "They're here to get help, just like you are." "Bobby." "We'll be starting real soon, so, uh, just take a seat, huh?" "Thank you." "Well, he seems pleasant enough." "Reminds me of kindergarten-- too many bright, smiling faces." "I'm sorry, this is a nonsmoking meeting." "You got to be kidding." "There are smokers' meetings." "They're listed in your directory." "I can get you one." "Fascist." "See?" "This is why I didn't want to get involved in this." "They want to dictate every detail of your life to you." "Well, to hell with them." "Elizabeth..." "I'm so glad to see you here." "Well, look who's here." "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and there's something I want to tell you." "If ever you come to my house and try that trap again," "I will personally rip out your arms and use them to play you like a marimba." "How dare you try to turn my family against me." "I understand your anger, Elizabeth." "You don't understand oatmeal." "And if I ever catch you near me or them again," "I will sue for harassment and assault." "Now come on." "I feel like champagne." "Well?" "Are you coming?" "I'm sorry, Elizabeth." "Well... guess this means you're fired." "I guess it does." ""I understand your anger, Elizabeth."" "(knocking on door)" "I'm coming." "(jazz music playing)" "(knocking on door)" "♪ I used to lie awake and wonder ♪" "♪ If there could be ♪" "Bethie..." "Crossing enemy lines, are you?" "Come on in." "Come in." "Now you know you're supposed to go straight home after school, don't you?" "Your mother must be having a heart attack." "But I miss you." "(sighs)" "Bethie... look..." "I'm..." "I'll make you a deal." "Come here." "You see this?" "I want you to have this." "It's your favorite." "'Kay?" "Then I'm going to give your mother a call, and you're going to go home with her, okay?" "Thank you." "All right, sweetie." "Why don't you come on in here and watch the news on television." "Do I have to watch the news?" "You don't want to grow up to be an uninformed citizen, do you?" "All right, come on." "Just don't make it too loud." "I got a headache." "WOMAN (on TV):" "And she wishes the mayor who recently said he believes..." "(fire crackling) ...percent chance of showers... (coughs)" "(coughing)" "Grandma!" "Grandma!" "Help me, Grandma, please!" "Help me!" "Grandma!" "Grandma!" "(coughing)" "Grandma!" "Grandma!" "(gasping)" "Grandma!" "Grandma, please!" "(coughing)" "(glass breaks)" "(coughs, gasps)" "BETH:" "Help me, Grandma, please!" "Help me!" "(glass breaks)" "(siren wailing)" "(coughs)" "You got a little smoke inhalation." "It isn't really serious, but I'd recommend..." "Mm-mm." "I am not interested in your recommendation." "I want out of this place right now." "Don't want to spend another minute here." "Ms. Jessup, you probably shouldn't leave in this condition." "Oh, honey, I have had some conditions, and believe me, this is not one of them." "Now, I don't know how I got in here, but I can tell you how I'm going to leave." "Through that door right now." "Look, let me keep you here overnight just for observation." "Take a good look." "Sydney, take me home." "I should've known you'd be drunk." "Sydney, please." "I don't need a lecture right now." "It was very, very nice of you to come." "Thank you." "Now just... just take me home." "I can't believe this." "You have no idea, do you?" "Don't take that tone with me." "Don't you know what happened?" "Well, it, um... it could've been the radiator." "Could've been the furnace." "It could've been..." "they never got the thing right, I don't know." "You don't know because you were drunk." "A neighbor saw somebody carry Beth out just in time, and it wasn't you." "You were passed out on the lawn." "You left my baby to die." "Bethie was there?" "She's unconscious." "She took in a lot of smoke." "Sh-She's not responding to sound or anything." "Sydney..." "No, no, no." "You leave us alone." "(monitor beeping)" "Okay... okay... okay." "If you can hear me, this is Elizabeth." "And, uh and if you're really there," "I can't imagine why you'd want to listen to me." "But Kissinger always said," ""Don't waste time with the middleman-- go to the top."" "So..." "I..." "I could use some help here." "TESS:" "♪ Amazing grace ♪" "♪ How sweet the sound ♪" "♪ That saved a soul like me. ♪" "Excuse me." "Um... when a person is in a coma, they can hear what's going on around them, is this true?" "Sometimes." "I've had several patients who respond to voices, music, and a regular soap opera." "Thank you." "Is this what you're looking for?" "Don't be afraid," "Elizabeth." "I'm an angel." "I was sent to you, and I've been with you all this time." "It was you." "You pulled Bethie out." "What else do you remember?" "My cigarette..." "I started it?" "Yes, you did." "Oh, my God..." "Oh, my God!" "(sobbing):" "Oh, my God." "You've come to punish me." "No." "No..." "God loves you." "Why?" "Because you're Elizabeth." "Not Elizabeth the journalist, or the prize winner... or the alcoholic." "But because you're you." "God lovesyou." "Elizabeth, this is not who you were created to be." "You spent your whole life running and running, trying to catch up with something that was never there for you." "But all you've done is go farther and farther away from that precious love that is always there for you." "Oh... now?" "Now you've almost lost that completely." "I'm sorry." "(loud sobbing):" "I'm sorry." "Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" "What am I going to do?" "!" "You just did it." "(electronic beeping)" "(music box playing "Amazing Grace")" "Nurse!" "Nurse!" "MAN:" "And it's really made a difference, and I just want to say thanks." "So thank you." "Thank you, David." "So do we have any newcomers today who'd like to introduce themselves?" "If you would just say your first name and anything about yourself that you feel comfortable sharing." "Yes." "My name's Barry." "ALL:" "Hi, Barry." "Hi." "Actually, this is my second time, but I didn't say anything before." "I'm just back." "That's all." "That's all I can do right now." "ANITA:" "Thank you, Barry." "Anyone else?" "Well, I think we have some birthdays to celebrate today." "So who wants to go first?" "Hi." "My name is Sydney, and I'm an alcoholic." "ALL:" "Hi, Sydney." "Hi." "And as of today" "I've been sober for one year." "(applause)" "I used to say that I was an alcoholic because my mother didn't love me." "But nothing changed until I admitted that I was an alcoholic because I didn't love myself." "Uh, I used to think my mother was so glamorous." "She would go to the most exotic places." "She would meet the most famous people and-and drink champagne in crystal glasses from Paris." "I adored her." "But..." "I always knew that she was sorry that she had me." "I guess I-I cramped her style." "So, I..." "I tried to make her happy that I was born." "I drew her pictures." "I-I sent her letters on the road." "I tried so hard to be somebody that she could love." "But I couldn't compete with the champagne." "And the harder I tried the more I saw myself through my mother's eyes, which was dull, unexciting and stupid." "And then one day I'm pouring a drink for myself in the afternoon, and my little girl comes in the house, and... she looks at me and she says," ""Mommy, I'm so glad that you were born."" "And finally... finally, for the first time in my life... (sobs) ...so was I." "Mom?" "Sydney." "I'm so sorry." "And I'm so glad you were born." "Happy birthday." "Do you mind sharing it with me?" "Hello." "My name is Elizabeth... and I'm an alcoholic." "ALL:" "Hi, Elizabeth." "Ah." "Any marimba playing going on in there?" "Beautiful music, Tess, beautiful music." "That's going to be some kind of interesting book of memoirs she's going to write." "Aye, it'll be worth waiting for." "It always is, baby." "It always is." "♪ Amazing grace ♪" "♪ How sweet the sound ♪" "♪ That saved a wretch like me. ♪"