"Machine translation completely re-written by hhgygy" "So you got everything?" "You think you can play games or do you think you'll break a bone?" "Probably read a little" " If I write an e-mail don't be scared to write me back" "OK?" "Do not kill him know your dad in you're thinking" "Or what is going on you know?" " Yeah" "If you want we can try Skyping or something" "All right" "You got the drawings for your science theme?" "Yeah..." "I think so" " Ok, it went great by the way" "Really great." " Thanks" "Is your computer charged?" " Yeah" "What do you think is the first thing you do when you get home?" "I do not know..." "I really cherish this communication we have" "Your answers are so..." " What?" "Do keep practicing the piano ok?" "You're really good and you spend so much time at school" "That... just remember the music is something that you'll use in your life" "Do not forget this, you want this, right?" "Yeah..." "Thanks" "I probably make it over there in October" "I'll try to see you in the first recital and hopefully you can watch your soccer game" "I might not even play soccer this year" "That would be a big mistake, trust me" "I'm not that good" " You're pretty good, you are" "I mean..." "I miss much training" "And the chances that I'm the star are minimal" "Yes but only tell your coach the situation... your dad lives in Europe and you really wanted to be there" "You know... blah, blah, blame me, my parents stink but I'm really serious" "But I'm serious dad, I do not care that much" "Well let's not decide right now, just think about it" "All I'm saying is that team sports are important" "Here we are" "I love this airport, do not you?" " It's awasome 40 00:02:33,923 -- 00:02:36,457 Yeah, I know is it really great?" "Are you happy to see your mom?" "Yeah and to all my friends" " Ok, what about your boarding pass, passport?" "Ok..." "Do you feel confident about making the connection?" "Yes, I have done this before" " Yes, but there is a tricky connection" "Just remember that when you land stay in your seat till someone from the airline gets you" "Ok?" "It's not a problem" " Ok allright" "Oh well..." "Well... seems that perhaps and we should say goodbye" "Ok come here!" "I'll do my best to make that recital ok?" "You know..." "I would not bother" "What makes you say that?" " Look, I'm not being mean, but  it would be easier if you did not come to the recital." " How come?" "It would just be better if you visited on a nothing weekend" "I want to see you play" " It's because mom hates you so much" "She really would be stressed if you're there and it would be tense for me" "You know..." "Do not have time to spend together equal" "Do not worry about we'll figure that out Just want you not to worry about it" "Ok?" "I mean..." "You know how much I miss you, right?" "Why do you think she still hates me so much?" "I do not know!" "I think she hates Daniel more than she hates you" "Yeah" " Hey do not worry, I will see to do" "We should just do this" " Yeah but think I should ask for help?" "I do not know" "But you know that I love you, right?" " Yes!" "This has been the best summer of my life!" "Really?" " Yes!" "For me too, see?" "I told you visiting Greece would be great" "And it was" "Ok!" "I love you boy" " I love you too, dad" "Ok... shake my hand" "Goodbye!" "What happens?" " They voted against it!" "What?" "Winter?" "Del vote?" "6 months these people were all for it everyone agreed it was great for the region" "So what happened?" " Now decided that they don't like the look on that hill" "I thought it was a done deal" " I was!" "It practically was." "Can they do that?" " Of course!" "They've done it, and its over." "Sorry..." " No, it's so frustrating I can't take it anymore" "I'm gonna take that job" " No, you do not wanna work for them." "Why not?" " For the government?" "I think this government is different," "We need laws and it's the only way it's gonna happen." "You had a lot of good work done." "Well I've been thinking about it, this is the way to do" "Ok, well then let me remind you do not like that guy" "The whole time you worked for them you've been complaining about him" "Yes, yes... may be a idiot but do it right" "Things and that's what will do from now on" "Ok..." " I'll be a bitch ok?" "Well every time I look at that guy all I see is ambition" "I mean, sorry, I do not trust him, the only reason we are doing this" "It is for a profit of government and people can not see" "I don't care about him, ok?" " Ok I think it's gonna be miserable" "With all the policy and compromise" " Whatever" "I've made my decision I'm tired of being a fool who rolls the boulder up a hill" "And watches it roll down again" " Then you have to be assistant bad guy then?" "Ok I should have taken this job a year ago" "And I was scared because of the amount of work but I think it's the best opportunity ever" "And I'm doing it" " OK, are you sure?" "No, I'm not sure of anything ok?" "I mean what's gonna happen to everyone if I leave?" "Like Françoise..." "I mean, they count me" "What do you think?" "Should I take it or not?" " No, I have no nothing to say about that" "Just do not want to see you rush into a decision just because this wind turbine crap is gone." "It's not just that, ok?" "It's been stirring me all summer" "I know it has, I know." "I should do it." "I'm doing it!" " Then do it." " I'm doing it!" "Right?" "Oh God, I wish that things were simpler" "I mean..." "If I leave everything easier would go" "It's always a guess." " Yes, the world is fucked" " Yeah, maybe." "Oh God we finally have a vacation and the girls are sick in the first two weeks" "I know... with the perfect sun a million miles away" "All the love of your life can't clean after himself or learn how to shave" "Who said that?" "I am Captain Clean-up over here." "Captain clean-up?" "He who has been missing in action all these years" "What did you expect at this point?" "God..." "Oh look at them, they're so cute, they look like conjoined twins" "Oh my God I'm gonna take a picture" "You're going to get food out of your child's mouth?" "Yeah," " Ok" "This all brown" " No matter, there is a point here" "Ela, this is evidence of your father stealing food from you." "If she becomes bulimic or anorexic" "It's not my fault, don't blame it all on your mother, ok?" "This is a family apple I'm teaching them the value of sharing" "I love you honey" "Oh, so sweet, you girls will remember this vacation very different." "That's for sure." "Please stop videotape" "God..." "I love your mom, you're always so hard on her." "It is because we miss the fucked-up years now things are doing something good" "The fucked-up years..." "That reminds me, talking about fucked-up, did I ever tell you the story about my little patraquidi?" "Ok..." "I think you'd remember if I did." "You know when I was a little girl I had a cat named Cleopatra" "And every spring she'd jump the fence and get pregnant." "And always ended up with a litter of exactly two kittens" "Two kittens..." " Every time, every year two cats" "I mean... it's just amazing, then one days I was around 30" "And I was having lunch with my dad and was remembering and mentioning little Cleopatra" "And It was like..." "the hardest thing I ever had to do" "It was to kill those cute little kittens..." " And I was like that... what?" "!" "It turns out ..." "listen to this" "Sometimes I had up to 7 kittens" "But he would take 5 of them, put them in a plastic bag, with a bunch of ether." "That is terrible" " That was like..." "He had forgotton, they lied about the kittens" "Well I asked him." "So you took the fluffiest, cutest?" "You know, and he just started to cry, poor daddy." "Oh said we would gonna stop to see the ruins" "Yeah" " Well I really wanted to see them" "Yes but they are asleep" "You know... on the way back to airport, we can catch them" "We will not" " Yeah, probably not" "So long ancient ruins!" "What is so great about them, anyway?" "I wanted them all" " Oh my God... we are shitty parents, You should have stopped." "Go back!" "OK" " It's culture, we turn around" "Put some character to these kids Somehow girls ok?" "We are teaching them a valuable lesson:" "Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose in this world." "When the girls are on rehab after 10 years on cocaine and speed" "You say...you just never felt comfortable going to sleep" "Because daddy used to tell us that if you sometimes lose and that will be your fault, again." "Oh yes we are shitty parents" " I know" "Saying goodbye to Hank sucks" "Why?" "Was he upset?" "No..." "He said it was the best summer of his life" "Well that's great..." "I mean, I would not worry too much about him" "We spoke a bunch." "You know what his main concerns in life are?" "What?" "Pimples and how girls perceive him." "The apple does not fall far far from the tree I guess" "I'm not like that." "Oh please!" "That's all you think about!" "What!" " Women!" "I mean..." "I'm not complaining, I'm getting a lot of attention" "But you never stop ogling girls" " I don't ogle girls" "I make love to them with my eyes." "Oh..." "Sure I like the Spanish guy or is it Greek?" "I do not know where I am from, but I'm very hairy" "Well I think..." "I know..." "Henry may..." "What?" " There may be a girl" "I do not know..." "I think he had a crush on someone" "Are you kidding?" "Why do you think he said it was the best summer of his life?" "Because... he and I had a good time together?" " Je-sus..." "So... what?" "Do you think they kissed?" "yes, yes, they kissed." "I was sworn to secrecy but he told me they kissed." " What did he say?" "I'm not supposed to tell you anything, I'm not gonna talk." " Come on!" " Ok!" "He told me he was concerned about the kissing" "You know tongue to tongue..." "Yeah" "But he was... he was so cute, so nervous" "So he and ...." " What's gonna happen now?" "I do not know... they must be friends, Facebook" "Hey, what if they end up spending all their life together?" "You're so corny..." "I mean..." " What are you?" "A 12-year-old girl?" "With your first love, do you even remember who it was?" "Sure, it was you" " Oh, please, like you were a virgin at 23" "I said first love not first sexual experience" "Ok..." "Fine.." "Am I the first woman you ever fell in love with?" "Yeah the first one I felt completely connected to" "What?" "I was not your first love?" "No, of course not" " Oh well" "I thought I was." "Jesse, stop" " Not a big deal" "No... ok how old are you?" "C'mon - 41 Years" "You are so, so... working for this night" "I have to tell you that I have a rocket in my pocket" "I'm stuck with an American teenager" "I can not believe it, do we have to do all that stuff later?" "What?" "Oh c'mon, it means a lot to Patrick" "For children it is very important" "No, no..." " It will be fun" "No, I meant the hotel later" "I'm not sure I want to go there..." "Hi sweetie." "Yeah," "Oh, ok, ok, ok" "It's fine" "Call me from London, have a good flight, bye" "They were telling them to turn everything off, They are about to take off." "I asked him to call me from the plane" "What?" "What is it?" " I don't know" "Just do not think I can keep doing this." "What?" "Every summer, every Christmas and I" "I know..." "It makes me uncomfortable" " It's so bad" "As if I.. we were sending him to boarding school or something" "I do not know... if your mom and I we got along a little bit better" "I know... it's like we're sending him back across the enemy lines" "It really hit me this time ..." "He's gonna be a freshman in high school 4 years more and he's gonna be on his own." "Oh I mean that's the good news" "This is crucial, I feel I should be there for him" "It's like now or never, you know?" "No... what do you mean?" "I thought that somehow could live with us" "Time goes by so fast and look, here we are at highschool" "It's girls, and next thing is College applications" "Yeah, you're right, maybe it's time, of I really think it's time to tell his mom all this" "And ask if he can live with us" "I'd love it!" " That's never gonna happen." "Right?" "She will never give me one thing she is not legally obligated to." "Do you want to call that lawyer again?" " No, I don't like that guy, he's terrible." "Should I call her mother?" " No, please." "Never again." "The kid does not know how to throw a baseball!" "Who cares..." "Leads with his elbow, throws like a girl" "Not your fault" " It is my fault, a father is supposed to teach you that." "Ok he just does not like baseball" " It's just an example, it's a metaphor for everything." "He's turning 14 and he needs to be with his father" "Jessy I'm not moving to Chicago" "What?" "Did I ask you to?" "Where did it come from?" "I'm just thinking out loud" "I mean, this is the one thing I promised I would never do" "And I look up and I'm doing it!" " Listen, you're a wonderful father" "Love their relationship, love the letters I send" "Do not read the letters..." " Of course you read only you do not have good lyrics" "I just miss these years they are never coming back" "Oh my God" "What?" "This is where it ends." "What are you talking about?" "This is how people start breaking up." " Oh my god" "No, no..." " You just jumped off a cliff" "No, no..." "I'm serious, this is the day like a ticking bomb that destroys our lives, yeah?" " Ok, well, first off" "You said he's a time bomb" " Oh yeah whatever" "You know what?" "It's ticking right now." "And this is how it happens." "You are unhappy and blame it on the other person Resentment grows, everything is rot" "And you break up." "That's it." "You say that to shut me up?" " No of course not" "Of course not!" " Yeah, if that's what you do" "No, I'm actually surprised we've lasted so long" "Ok..." "So..." " We are on parallel tracks a while but now" "The tracks have crossed and I'm going west and you're going east" "And believe me this is how it happens I've seen it, ok?" "Katrin, Alexandre" "You're kidding right?" " Well no." "I'm kidding... and I'm not." "Right." "Just..." "This is it." "Oh we were closed" " Sweetie we decided to catch them when we're on the way back to the airport" "Ok?" " Exactly, we'll leave early, right?" "Yes!" "What happened to my apple?" "Right?" "Give me the list" " I don't have it." "It's in your wallet!" "And give me your wallet, too" "Ok I am the General" "The overall ok?" "Captain Clean-up, you do not touch anything!" "Where is my team!" "The red one." "Ok pepper" "Actually I read them both." "The first is called" ""At that time" and the second "at this time"" "The first is "this time" and the second is "that time"" "Yeah" " We have a joke in our family" "That this was what brought us together again" "And that paid for our apartment." " Ok" "But it must be rare for a man reading a book" "Why?" "I think I got used to it." " But the second one is sexy." "When he misses the plane and have sex for days and days" "Like there's no tomorrow..." "I mean wow, Do you guys actually do that?" "You do that right?" " I hear there's a third book and it is actually better than the first two" "Considering that it took more time writing the first two together" "The third one I did not read, my wife bought it but it is too long" "Even the title is long." "What's the title?" ""Temporary cast members of a long-running but little-seen production of a play called fleeting" "Well, exactly my point" " You're not alone, everybody else thought it was too long." "It is a better book, it's so much more ambitious" "What happened?" "He said he likes all the books" "He does." "Well..." "I say I love this place is amazing these tomatoes are so amazing" "I can smell them, they smell so good" "Yeah he is very proud of them" "I know it's stupid but..." "when we were about to leave Paris I was so nervous to come here" "And now we're about to leave and I do not wanna go" "Why were you nervous?" " Yes, why was that?" "I do not know... this place is so full of thousands of years of myths and tragedies" "I thought something tragic would happen" "You thought someone was going to eat your children." "Yes." "Exactly." "All the time I've been here I've been" "Working on this idea about a group of different people" "With all these brain abnormalities" "So the book would be like a day in your life" "From their unique points of view only" "As an old lady who has the condition that makes you feel" "Like you're in a perpetual state of de javu" "And every single experience she has is like if it had happened before" "I mean she could be sitting here with us talking seemingly functional alright?" "And in her head she's thinking... did not I already say that?" "I mean... did not we have exactly the same conversation?" "So just like dejavu?" " Yes, except all the time" "That's what happens, everything she takes in" "A breakfast, a newspaper, a movie" "She is convinced she's encountered it already" "Is it a real condition?" " Yes, it is called persistent Dejav..." "It's real but I can not pronounce it." "Ok... and there are two other characters with facial recognition extremes." "There is one guy and he can not recognize his wife for 20 years" "He looks at himself in the mirror and he feels disconnected with this man, he's looking at" "And the other character is the opposite." "A middle-aged housewife" "With a categorical exacting memory of every face she has ever seen" "And she lives in a big city but to her it is a small town." "Like a taxi drives past and she thinks..." ""Oh that's the driver who dropped me off at the mall for 3 Christmases ago"" "As an old lady walking on the street," "She recalls that she sat to seats from me on the subway last year." "So everyone she meets, you know, to her feels intimate and connected" "Well I'm like the first guy:" "I feel connected to nothing most of the time" "Hey!" "Eckolas!" "Anna!" "Hey guys" "Look at this kid, he is having the best summer of his life" "So, you were saying these three characters, right?" "No... it's not just three characters it's a whole group of people" "Like I'm working on a Chapter right now about a young Greek man in Macaless" "Me?" " Well he's named after you" "And this guy is caught in a loop, all he sees is the transient nature of everything" "Like he looks out to the sea and he thinks the day it will be dry and littered with flosses." "Well I do not know... sounds a little pretentious to me" " No pretentions" "It's gonna be funny." "Really funny." "He picks up a book and immediately wonders:" "who's gonna be the last person to read this?" "And that's funny?" " Sometimes I kind of think like that." "Well OK, so he does not get excited about tits, cars, booze, nothing?" "Just thinks about death." " Well not so much that." "Transformation is like he is seeing too far in the future." "Ok..." " I like this idea for a novel" "But you should add a character of an old man like me" "Who can not remember what he ate for breakfast" "But still hears the song that was playing" "When Sheila Campbell danced topless at the bar of juries when he was 14 years old." "That would work." " Ok have these people lost the time, right?" "What is the connection?" "Are they gonna have sex?" "Something like that?" "It's not time they have lost but perception." "That's the deal, I'm thinking of setting the whole novel at a movie" "Like every character in some way comes into contact with the film On the Waterfront" "Have you seen On the Waterfront?" "With Brando?" " Ok the first chapter of the book is opening at a weekend in Times Square in 1954" "That old lady with perpetual dejavu" "Walks into the matine screen except all the time she's thinking have not I already seen this?" "Yeah and then in another chapter is a 1979 Paris film study class" "Then we have a retrospective in Munich in 1993" "It's time..." "As that's not the time?" "It's time but it is more perception" "Not like..." " I think it will be too long!" " Well..." "I like it" " Do not listen to him, he makes bicycles." "Send it to me in Galles." "I'll do!" "In France we stuff the tomatoes with tomatoes and the peppers with peppers" "Use the same, by how you react" "Ok..." "Make sure you do not stuff too much because it will overflow in the oven later" "And it can get very nasty." "Ok..." "You're doing fine, Celine." "Especially do not listen to Stefanos here" "Because he has never made this dish before - or any other dish, for that matter." "Stop fighting with knives!" "Stop stop fighting with knives!" "We're not fighting we are negotiating" "Yeah" " Negotiating." "That's how you call it?" "It is a system that we have" " So you found the system that works for you," "I thought it was called having a "relationship" but I like the system" "That's cute" "We used to have that system" "Not too far you guys!" "Ok do not want this meal go by without thanking everyone and... especially you Patrick we had no idea what we were getting into these weeks" "A letter arrives from the university inviting us to the Southern Peloponnese in Greece" "To the guesthouse of a great writer" "Sure!" "Why not?" "And then at the airport earlier today" "Hank turns to me and he says it has been the greatest summer of his life" "And I have to say the same, so thank you Patrick!" "And not just for what you done for me and my family" "But for all that you bring to all" "Thank you, thank you, when I first saw you at the airport" "I thought... no way a man dressed like that could be a man of letters" "But now..." "I think I've learned your secret, we've had many writers over the past decade but no one had more interest in themselves" "I'm telling you" "And Celine, it's been so great to have you and your daughters' wonderful vitality around here" "And I'm so happy you were able to meet my dear friend Natalia" "Whose husband Elias was like a brother to me." "I'm so sorry about the Colonel" "No... no..." "Thanks for including Anna and me this summer" "Because you know that just pushes me to work" "But... when I bring Anna he let me stay at the table of the grown-ups" "Welcome to the grown-ups' table" "How long have you two been together?" " Since last summer" "We met one year ago here in my last days with Grandpa" "Before I had to go back to Athens" " Yes, I met him at a party" "I was doing Shakespeare in the theater" "Who did you play?" "I was ," "She was fantastic, remember Patrick went to see her?" "When you dance I wish you do not do anything more than that" "The way you just said that was better than the guy in the play" "People are still talking about that production." "But the after-party was even better, it was when we met" "Yeah we were all there" " Very nice." "So... were tossing and turning all night and then I had to drive back to the theater" "To get her stuff." "And it was the best" " And I'll never forget it." "We were out and had 12000 people" "And at that time it was completely empty" "And she was sitting way up in the back row" "So..." "I went up on stage" "And whispered something" " The acoustics there are incredible." "I could see his mouth move and then 3 seconds later" "I could hear his voice in my ear" "What did he say?" "It is private" "And then she had to fly back to Paris a couple of days later" "How did you keep in touch?" " We Skyped." "Pretty much every day since then." "And we have something, we're putting the laptop on the pillow" "And... sleep together" "Oh that's the new romance" "And when I wake up the screen is usually frozen" "And Anna's face is in some funny position like.." "Can I ask you a question?" "Please?" "When you guys Skype" "Do you, you know... do you go a little crazy?" "My God!" "You're being so vulgar!" " I'm just being a amateur anthropologist who is interested in the virtual world on a theoretical level." "Now you're an anthropologist" " Yes, the sex of the near future" "And I'm not making this up but it's gonna be just like plugging in something in your genitals" "And you can have sexual intercourse with anyone of your choice You'll be able to programme in all your preferences" "You'll be able to type in exactly what you want." "Marilyn Monroe to whisper in your ear." "I might like that!" "Yes!" "I mean..." "Why not?" "More and more of our experiences are taking place in the virtual world" "Yeah..." "And you're a writer." "How are you gonna feel when" "Computers can write a better book than 'War and Peace'" "That will never happen" " I think the only question is when it's going to happen." "I think I will probably feel about the same way as Kasparov you know the chess players felt when they could no longer play with those big-ass computers..." "Remember we first thought no computer could ever beat our best" "The human machine likes" "You know and now we can not compete" "I saw a doctor when they were doing an experiment in a laboratory and..he was wired up and could push a switch and have an orgasm" "Scientists were sort of laughing at this pathetic little creature" "While it ignores food and water and did not do anything else" "And eventually just died" "I think that's the future of humanity" "And die!" "Well, maybe so but every generation believes that they're witnessing the end of the world" "But..." "I feel that I'm actually living it" " Ok I have a question for you Patrick" "I think a lot of people are feeling that way..." "you know" "We are like this kind of pleasure-obsessed porn-addict" "Materialistic seeing our humanity with technology" "At the same time the computers are becoming sentient" "Right?" "So my question is this notion of 'self' to begin with." "Well is written in the portals of the temple of Apollo at Delhi" "It says: gnothi saphton.." "Which means "Know thyself"" "Yes but we are 99% automated already" "Not our personality or this thing we think of as ourselves" "It is only a tiny fraction of what the brain is doing" "Most of these automated body functions" "So what is it we're actually seeing?" "Now, if this notion of self is such a small percentage of usage" "How come I always hear so much about it?" "Well it's just like my penis." "I mean it's not that big it is a small part of myself" "But it needs a lot of attention." "He's a Jew!" "And how did you two meet?" " You do not know?" "What?" "Well, you have to read Jesse's books." " If you especially if you want to know what it is like to have sex with me" "Excuse me, Stephanos." "I'm sorry but I read them" "Yeah" "We met about 18 years ago and we kind of, sort of fell in love a little bit." "and... then we lost track of each other" "And a decade later, we ran into each other." "No, no... we did not run into each other, sweetie" "You wrote a book inspired by our meeting..." "Yes, yes..." " And I read about it and went to look" "That's pretty romantic" " Not really" "He was married again" " Details!" "Yeah That was a disaster" " It was not a disaster, it was inevitable." "Ok and the first time that we had sex without a condom" "Twins!" "And change it from there" "Sorry to say that" " The girls are so beautiful" "They are cute" "Ok... no, no, it has some upsides." "Ok..." "Let me tell you right now, Anna, how to keep a man" "You have to let them win in all these little games" "Oh God!" " When I met Jessy the first night we played pinball" "And of course I was winning" " The foundation of lie to our entire relationship?" "And then I let the ball go down in the middle" "And gave him confidence if I didn't let him won in every game" "We would never have sex" "I mean..." "I'm sorry to say all this but he's actually a closet macho" "He dreams of having a bimbo for a wife" "It is my greatest aspiration" "So..." "Yes?" "So you're a writer?" "Yes, sure" "So you write like... books?" "I've written a few, sure" "I've never met a writer before" "You must be really smart" "You know..." "I can't even write my own name sometimes when I'm tired" "What kind of books do you like?" "Well I like stories with a meaning behind it" "Like a really beautiful love story" "Oh sure yes" "You know..." "I read this book once..." "Romeo and..." " Juliet" "Yes!" "You know it?" " It's very good." "It's a play, actually." "It is not a book." "Play." " Oh I thought it was a book based on the movie" "No, no, a play" " Ok, it was a play." "Well, actually I did not read the whole thing because sometimes I have to keep up and read these magazines" "To know exactly what's going on in all these peoples' lives." "Well that is important." " Ok you are very, very smart" "And I bet you have a gigantic penis" "Why am I finding myself so attracted to this woman?" "!" "And that's the funny part of it." "The not so funny part of the closet macho is that two days after we dropped Henry off" "He tells me that even though I have an offer for an amazing job," "He wants me to throw it away and move to Chicago" "It's not what I said, I said I missed him." "Hey, you guys stop it, It must have been so hard to say goodbye right?" "Yeah, of course." " And I say a he is such an amazing kid." "Yeah... and I already miss my chess partner" "When Stefanos and I split up I am getting full custody" "It's okay for a while because me and my 20-year-old girlfriend" "Will be a little bit preoccupied." "Oh I love you" " And I love you you" "Ok..." "I have a story that my husband here loves" "And that's gonna tell you everything about masculine and feminine" "Ok, ready?" "My mom used to be a nurse so she was there when people were coming out of the coma" "Listen, it's an interesting story" "I'm listening" " So she was the one to tell them..." "Hi..." "My name is Catherina you're coming out of a coma" "You've been in a really bad automobile accident" "You're gonna be okay" "You're gonne be fine and, you know, stuff like that" "He said the first thing that every woman the very first thing, the first reaction she would have" "Would be to ask: how are my kids?" "How is my husband?" "Is anyone else hurt?" "Every man with no exception, when they were told all this, what was the first thing they did?" "Looked down on their cock." "You know what?" "You got to make sure it's still there." "You got to make sure it's still working." "You have to!" " Alive and kicking!" "Yeah, yeah, and eventually they come around to asking about their kids" "Or about someone else that might have accidentally been killed, and stuffs like that," "Does not say it all?" " Penis first and the rest of the world." "Penis!" "Penis!" "But if you can explain it on strictly gender terms" "Why does any women waste time" "Getting mad and bother to change a man?" "Exactly!" "It's all biology." "What is the problem?" "And they are so good at turning things around." "NO... only... is like that upset because a frog is green" "Yes!" "Exactly!" " Hearing all this" "I wonder if this idea of a love affair that lasts forever is still relevant to us?" "I mean we know that we are going to break up eventually." " Definitely." " Are your parents are still together?" " No way." "No and what about yours?" " They are but they could divorced." "I think if they had more money, they would not still be together." "God, you guys are so practical, I was born into the wrong generation" "My grandmother's mother wrote to our whole family a 26-page letter from her deathbed" "And she spent three pages on the costume she did for a play... and only one paragraph on her husband" " Was she an actress too?" "No... she was...a..." "Seamstress" "And she had all these wonderful friends and about my great-grandfather" "She mentioned three events:" "He went to war, we moved because of his job" "And he died" "Her big advice was not to be too consumed with romantic love" "Friendships and work brought to her the most happiness" "I could not agree more that's what really helps us" "This idea of the soul mate of someone who would come to complete us and save us from heaven to take care of ourselves." "With Stefanos, I set the bar extremely low" "I knew he would not meet any of my needs" "Definitely not" " So what about Grandma?" "Was she your soul mate?" "Sounds appealing but actually your grandmother was more rational than that." "She took cared of herself and asked me to do the same" "We had plenty of room to meet in the middle" "Yeah, that sounds ideal" "What is it?" "But it should be obvious that my wife is not here today" "We were never one person, always two, we preferred it that way." "That is so beautiful" "I think my husband is always trying to almost colonize me, you know" "I colonize you?" "Yes but I colonize you, too, darling." "But at the end of the day" "It's not the love of one other person that matters but the love of life" "That's good to know, Patrick, because life I can handle" "Ariadna, on the other hand" "We no the Greek tragedy and on top of that The original many was destroyed for maniacs" "Hey, guys if we can not make that hotel rooom tonight could you get a refund or use it yourself" "No... we do not get a refund" " Are you trying to get out of it?" " No, it's such a great gift you've given us" "But I'm so stressed getting all the packing ready" "No, no..." " We made a deal guys" "We will watch the kids, you're gonna really love it" "It's a fantastic walk to the hotel You won't regret it." "And we would be very offended if you don't go" "Ok..." "Thank you." "Iran..." " Well... when I think of my husband" "What I miss the most about him is the way he used to lie down next to me at night" "Sometimes his arm would stretch along my chest" "And I could not move, I..." "I even held my breath" "But I felt safe" "Complete" "And..." "I miss the way he was whistling walking down the street" "And every time we do something I think of what he would say" "When it's cold today, wear a scarf" "But lately I've been forgetting little things" "It's sort of fading and I'm starting to forget him." "And it's like ... like losing him again." "So sometimes I make myself remember every detail of his face" "The exact color of his eyes, his lips, his teeth" "The texture of his skin, his hair." "That was all gone by the time he went" "And sometimes... not always, but sometimes" "I can actually see him." "It's as if a cloud moves away and there he is." "and I could almost touch him." "But then... the real world rushes in." "And he vanishes again" "But what I did every morning when the sun was not too bright outside" "But the sun somehow makes him vanish" "And he appears and disappears Like a sunrise and a sunset" "Anything, so ephemeral." "It's just like our life" "We appear and er disappear" "And we are so important to some" "But we are just... passing through" "To "passing through"" "To "passing through"" "And eventually he catches his face in the window's reflection" "And he realizes he's no longer a 9 year old boy." "Right?" "He's suddenly old, he's got a beard" "And his eyes are watery" " This one seems sad" "At first I thought you were going to tell me a" "Story about a guy that has an imaginary friend" "Which one?" " When in his 50s, the imaginary friend shows up again." "Yes, that!" " You like that?" "Remember that letter that you let me read that you wrote when you were 20 to yourself at 40" " Yes, I remember the first sentence:" "Dear 40-year-old Jesse, I hope you're not divorced" "No I did not even remember that part, I meant to all the other things in that letter" "You're the same guy, I mean, we always think that we are evolving" "But we can not change that much" "You know I think I've changed the most." " How?" "When I was younger I just wanted time to speed up." "Why?" "So I can be on my own, so I can be free from my parents and school and all that shit, you know, I just wanted to close my eyes and wake up and be an adult" "And now I can feel that that happened and I want everything to slow down." "It's strange I've always had this feeling no matter where I am in my life" "That it's either a memory or a dream." " I always thought that" "Me too, is it really my life?" "Is it as happening right now?" "It is." " I know!" "Every year I just seem to get a little bit more humble and more overwhelmed about all things I'm never gonna know or understand" "That's what I keep telling you: you know nothing" " I know, I know!" "But I'm getting better" "But not knowing is not so bad" "I mean..." "The point is to be looking, searching" "Stay hungry, right?" "That's true..." "I only wish it was easier" "How do you mean?" " Just to maintain a certain level of passion, you know." "I mean, it used to come so naturally" "Remember when I was younger, me and all my writer friends" "We like.. we just felt like were doing something important" "You know?" "Like this was our time." " But they were all a bunch of arrogant little pricks, right?" "No!" "Alright, maybe... do not know..." "Single than where would we get all that energy" "All that creativity and whatever ambition these people had" "I think you gotta be a little deluded to stay motivated." "Young men do this thing, they're comparing themselves all the time" "They have all these signposts they judge themselves by" "You used to do that all the time!" " Do what?" "What do you mean?" "You were talking about more than when you were 17" "Yes but women do not think that way as much." " You don't think so?" "We have much less to compare ourselves with, maybe." "Most women wouldn't do anything in life" "The first time I hear about them, they're in their 50s because it is was so hard for them to get any recognition before then." "They struggled for 30 years or they raised kids or were stranded at home" "Before they could find what they want" "Actually you know what?" "It's kind of free" "We need don't have to spend our lives comparing ourselves to Martin Luther King" "Ghandi..." "Tolstoy" " What about Joan of Arc?" "I mean... she was a teenager and she saved France" "Who wants to be Joan of Arc?" "Forget France." "She was burned at the stake, and a virgin!" "Ok?" "Nothing I aspire to." "What a great achievement!" "Oh God... - What?" " No, nothing." "What?" " This is so weird" "What do you mean?" " Just this, us walking, having a conversation." "About something else than scheduling food, work" "I mean how long has it been since we were wondering about bullshit" "Do you hear what I hear?" "The sea?" " No" "What?" "Oh!" "No small feet nothing being knocked over, nothing to clean up" "Nothing injustices being done." "Yeah, so when was the last time?" "When we had nowhere to be?" "Yeah.." "Remember walking in the Luxembourg Gardens?" "I used to kick your ass in ping-pong on those concrete tables" "Congrats!" "You beat a woman pregnant with twins!" "It is better than losing to a pregnant woman with twins!" "Yes..." "O God!" "You know what I think?" "I think it's from the time we leave our parents' house" "Until we have kids that's the only time that your life is completely your own." "I think I've had as a decade that" "Just like one long flowing, a day, a week, a year there is no big difference" "No..." "I know, I used to keep track of time through jobs and boyfriends and stuff like that and I can tell you every detail of the past seven years based on what was happening in the girls' lives" "Yeah...right... totally." "You do that too?" " Yes, if" "I mean time is demarcated now" " No, I'm just surprised you do that too" "Ok... quick test" "August 2009" "No, come on!" "It's a quick one." "What was happening?" "August 2009 we were on vacation with your parents" "Nía got the chickenpox first and quickly spread to Ela" "I am so impressed" " So do I get a gold star?" "Maybe." "Hey... can I ask you a question?" "Sure" "If we were meeting for the first time today on a train, would you find me attractive?" "Of course." " No, but really right now as I am" "Would you start talking to me?" "Would you ask me to get off the train with you?" "I mean you're asking a theoretical question." "I mean what would my life-situation be?" "Technically, it would not be cheating on you?" " Ok, why can not you just say yes?" " I did, I said, of course." " I wanted to say something romantic and you blew it, ok?" "Ok, ok... if I saw you on a train" "Ok listen I would be looking at you and say..." "Hey baby, you make me as horny as an egg in a pot" "Stop!" "That's disgusting!" "No!" "The truth is that you failed the test and the fact is that you would not pick me up on the train" "You would not even notice me, a fat-ass, middle-aged mom losing her hair" " Ok..." "Yes, that's me" " You set me up to fail" " You did." " Ok true" "But in the real world baldy" "I did, I talked to you on the train, and it was the best thing I ever did." "Really?" "Look at the goats." "Hello!" "You know that is not even a good question." "The real question would be if I did ask you to get off the train" "Yeah..." " Would you get off with me?" "No, of course not, I have people waiting for me" "You know, and a 41-year-old horny billy goat" "How creepy!" "I'm creeped out right now." "Help!" "I can not believe I'm 41" " Yeah, me neither." "We've gotten so old." "Never thought I would ever sleep with anyone over 40" "Yeah..." " Actually you know what?" "You are the oldest guy I've ever slept with." "That is something" " True" "I know but I'm not the oldest guy you've ever blown" "What!" " That conference in Warsaw" "What conference?" "Lech Walesa." "Lech Walesa!" "Oh what are you talking about?" " It was before we're together" "You can admit it." "I can remember the way you talked about him." "How he opened your heart, you definitely blew him." "Ok... you're really crazy!" "That was Gorbachev." "Ok?" "geographically challenged, doughnut-loving American" "I'm sorry I got Eastern-bloc leaders mixed up, OK." "And I did not blow him, ok?" "Take it back!" "Ok, ok" "God!" "Then went to another?" "All right, you know?" "Listen to this..." "I was going to tell you this later but already enough secrets" "What?" "You've got a tumor in your brain and going to die?" "No no" "Nothing like that, alright?" "Well, actually, it's kind of like that." "My grandmother died" " What!" "When?" "Yes, my dad texted to me before we ate" "Oh I'm so sorry." "Why could not you tell me?" "!" "Everyone has been expecting it she has lived a long time, had a great life" "She was 96" " She did not live much longer after your grandfather died" "No... barely a year... the funny thing is that this woman was a freaking saint, ok?" "She was a nurse in the war She took care of all of us" "You know... she never said any unkind word about anybody." "I wish I had met her." " It's OK" "Okay, because by the end she was not in the mood to meet new people" "I mean after a lifetime of being sweet as a pie, once grandpa died, she got kind of angry." "Really?" "She was in mourning, no?" "Yeah well my dad said she was waiting to die" "How long were they married?" "74 years" "Fuck!" "How is that even possible?" "How old would we be if we were together for 74 years?" "Hm, when do we start counting from?" "I guess from the first time we had sex." "Ok..." "OK, so... 1994" "Ok... 1994... 56 years from now" " We would be 98" "Oh!" "Would you be able to put up with me for another 56 more years?" "I need to know." "I do not know if I'm gonna be able to put up with you." "It's crazy if you think about all the changes they saw." "I mean, when they met neither one of them had electricity." "He used to take her to school on his horse" "When he graduated he was valedictorian and she was salutatorian" "What is that?" " He was top of the class and she was second" "I bet she knowingly marked a couple of answers wrong so that he does not feel threatened" "Well, if she wanted to get laid she'd better had" "Yes, obviously like you know who" " Anyway, so I called my dad, right, after I got the text, just, you know to tell him I was sorry but I think I got screwed up at some point said..." "Hey dad you're an orphan now, I do not think it was funny" "Not funny at all" " Yeah, I guess not" " He's next, then you" " I know" "Well... he told me that my grandparents wanted to have a joint service" "They wanted to have their ashes intermingled and be buried as one" "Your grandfather did not have a funeral?" " They woved to each other they'd never have to attend each other's funeral" "Oh yeah..." "I kind of like the idea of you attending mine" "What?" " No, I know..." "I'm imagining you in a suit" "Clean-shaven for once, holding hands with the girls, I do not know, I like it" "You're gonna outlive me." " We'll see" "I guess one of us will see" "What do you think you're gonna go to the service with me?" "To Texas?" " It's not gonna be in Paris" "Ok how bad you want me there?" "I mean I would come but it is really expensive" "With flights..." " It would be simpler to go alone" "Oh hello!" "Well you know and if I'm not there, it would be easier for you to fuck your cousins" "Yes, that's true" " Isn't that common where you come from?" "You did not answer the question" " What question?" "Well... will you be able to put up with me for 56 more years?" "I'm looking forward to it." " Shit, you're really working it." "The nectare of your sex ages like a fine line" "O-o, my hairy Spanish lover is back Greek, I'm Greek now." "Look at this!" "Wow, this place reminds me a bit of a movie I saw as a teenager" "It was a black and white film from the 50s" "I remember a couple walking through the ruins of Pompeii" "Viewing bodies that had been lying there for centuries" "I remember the bodies even holding and loving each other" "I do not know why, sometimes I have this image in my mind" "Where, you know, we're asleep and you hold me" "Well... being buried alive under molten ash?" "That's what you're thinking about?" "Yes!" "That's not funny!" "I do not know..." "It is not that horrible I mean, they had some bodies with little kids sleeping" "That's nice" "Yeah, I guess I was young and a bit morbid," "I mean at that age you romanticize dying with the person you love" "Now you die with me?" " Maybe you know if you were... you know" "Our first night together then, a long time ago, but now... no!" "I'd like to live!" "Because I can not say something romantic?" "!" "Oh no!" "Putain de merde I blew it!" "Ok if you want you can ask me again" "But any time sooner" "Sorry" "Hey..." "This is the chapel he told me about it's Byzantine, like a 1000 years old" "Can we go in?" " Yes, I think so." "Check this out!" "Hello!" "It's a shrine to St. Odilia, the patron saint to eyesight." "People come from all over and leave their dedications to the blind" "To help restore their sight." "I'm sure, it works." "And these pictures here, they make me think of those Japanese monks" "They like to paint with water and rock" "On hot days by the time they're done it will have evaporated" "Oh, the eyes are scratched down is that about blindness?" "No... not that" "But a guy told me that the Turks did that during the occupation" "That's it?" "I'll never eat Turkish food again" "Oh ok" "That will be good for the international community" "Ok... fine then I will never suck another turkish cock." "Ok that's gonna have a global impact" "Oh that's terrible, I forget you're a closet-Christian is it really bad to make blowjob jokes in a church?" "The girls asked me again what our wedding was like" "And?" "What did you say?" "I said I was... very low-key." "So low-key I can still remember" "Very quick" "I do not know why they want to get married so badly" "It is important to them" "We are in a church, do you want to get married?" " No" "It's all those fairy tales they like so much, you know." "Remember when they were little and at the end of every cartoon they watched" "They were like "they are getting married"" "Even if it was Pinocchio or Donald Duck and his nephews" "So if we are going to spend another 56 more years together" "Yeah..." " What about me would you like to change ?" "What?" " It's another one of your "can't win" questions" "I am not answering that." " What do you mean?" "!" "There is not one thing that you would like to change about me?" "I'm perfect?" " Ok actually" " One thing." "If I could change one thing about you it would be for you to stop trying to change me" "You are a very skilled manipulator you know that?" "I know how you work," " You think?" "Yeah, everything about you, let's go through here." "I do not think you do, actually." " No?" "Well..." "I know you better than anybody else on the planet" "Maybe that's not saying much" "This is great, I feel close to you, but sometimes I don't know..." "I feel like as Yeah you're breathing helium and I'm breathing oxygen" "What makes you say that?" "See?" "I'm trying to truly connect and you make a joke!" "No!" " That's exactly what I'm talking about." "Cmon if we ever gonna truly know each other" "I think we should know ourselves better first" "Yeah" "Do you remember this friend of mine, Josh from New York?" "NO..." "Oh no, that was before... no, no, as" "He was this friend of mine that when he found out that he had leukemia" "And he was probably gonna die, he confessed to me that the first thing that came to his mind was relief" " Relief?" "Of what?" "Yeah... well... before he had nine months to live" "He was always so worried about money" "And now he thought... great!" "I have more than enough money to live the next 9 months, I've made it!" "Ok" "And then he was finally able to enjoy everything about life even like being stuck in traffic" "He would just enjoy looking at people and staring at their faces" "Just little things" "And then what happened?" " What do you mean?" "Well..." "like, is he still alive?" "No... died a long time ago" "Last night..." "I had this dream, where I was reading a book but it was a lost classic "The Rovers"" "If you like... roving around, you know, wandering it was all these young people" "Ok... is that a real book?" " No, but it was really great" "It was fresh, funny, experimental, had all this energy" "I love that you read books in your dreams" "And they're always really good!" " I have major action hero dreams" "Like I'm flying around like a super hero breaking through walls" "And in the end I have an orgasm" "I hope your dreams come true" "Still there" "Still there" "Gone." "I need your credit card" " Oh I think the room is paid for" "Yes it is." " If so but the credit card is for..." "For accidents" "Of course" "Mr. Wallace" " Yes?" "I am such a fan of your books" "My husband gave me your book on our first date" "And... on the second date we read it out loud together" "Wow..." " Would you plese sign it for me?" "Sure!" "Of course." "I love the artwork on these Greek editions." "It's really nice, what is your name?" "Make it to Sophia and Pavlos" "Ok..." "How is the Greek translation?" " Well it's called the ..." "But I'm not sure that is correct" "It's because you never read it in English right?" " Exactly" "That is great" "Could sign them too?" " Me?" " Yes!" "You are the real mother, right?" "Madeleine, not really, people assume that it's me" "But it's not me at all, he's got a big imagination" "Would you please still sign it?" "It would mean so much to my husband" "I can not sign a book I did not write" "She'd be happy to do" "Thank you" "I'm happy to do it" "Ok thanks" "Great, thank you very much" "Check it out" " Wow, this is nice." "Air Conditioning!" "Oh I love it!" "Oh my god." "Oh wow!" "There is a bathtub!" "My God!" " Hey check this out!" "Stefanos and Ariadne got us a bottle of wine" "And a couple's massage..." "They are so nice we have to get them a present before we leave" "Oh, and we should remember something for the kids, too" "Yeah for sure" "I miss the girls" " I do not" "It's such a nice view..." "The only view that I am interested in" "What?" "This, right here" "Yeah" "What?" "It's funny never noticed until today but all the red of your beard is gone" "It used to be one of the things that made me crazy" "You're not telling me that your love is dependent on pigment are you?" "No?" "No, but you know..." "I see that red in our girls' eyelashes" "I look at them and it makes me think of when we met" "You're what I'm looking for" "Yeah, after..." "This weekend" "Without Nina and Ella jumping around the house?" "Exact" "Think?" "I like waking up with that sound" "With your eyes open and close" "When you said you could hear me think I don't really think you could" "But they were only my eyelids that silly and romantic" "That's my favorite thing" "Strange to think well and I hate to think in the morning" "I'm looking for it right now" "Ok..." "Let's stop talking so that we can fuck." "I told him to call me in case of emergency only I hope the girls are OK" "Oh, it's Henry" " Hey sweetie are you okay?" "Are you in London?" "Oh..." "Already?" "Ok" "Oh no, we found it." "We'll mail it tomorrow." "do not worry about tomorrow" "Yeah" "Oh, they miss you too, I'll kiss them for you" "Yeah" "Ok..." "I'll tell them" "Good luck with your mom, yeah" "I love you too, bye" "Ok..." "OK" "He's fine." "He says he will call you in Chicago when he lands" "Why can't I talk to him?" "I did that twice" "Come on, you could not give me the phone?" "You know you want to talk to the" "Well I had no time to talk" "What did he forget?" "What was that?" " His science project We'll mail it tomorrow" "He'll be fine" " You should not have said that about his mom" "What?" "What did I say?" ""Good luck with your mom"" "I did not mean anything by it." "I know but it's not good, it just reminds me of the whole thing and I wish you would not do that" "Oh... as if you believe that you forget?" "That's too American let's just sweep it under the carpet and act like it did not happen" "Why put it in his head ?" "And what if he does not want to think about it right now?" " It means nothing." " It means something." "It does." "Ok I even made a joke the other day" "That his mom and I should attempt a mud wrestling contest." " Mud wrestling?" "You said that?" "And he loved it." "He has more sense of humor than you do." "Come on!" "I do not know..." "I say we just talked about So you can not say bad things about his mom" "Well I did not say anything bad about his mom I made a joke" "As much on me as much on her." "I know, I know" "It's just why contradict at all?" "I think he's old enough now." "I mean he knows how bad it is between her mother and I" " His mom and me..." " I did not do anything, it's all coming from her towards me" "Ok she hates me, yes, I fucked her husband a long time ago" "Or should I say he fucked me?" "Yeah, right." "Ok I'm making a joke about that fact that his mother and I do not love each other." "There is not the issue, that is not going to traumatize him." "That already happened, right?" "Ok?" "And now you try to eat your fault and say that I am guilty?" "No..." "You know, on the contrary, if were making a joke about it" "Maybe you'd be able to live better with it that's what I think" "Ok..." "You're right, as always." "Let us just not talk about it, ok?" "It's nobody's fault if his mother is a drunk and abusive psychologically." "Do not say that!" "I mean it makes me sick that he has to be with her but judges assume" "That women have a mother instinct" "She has the mother instinct of Medea!" "Madea not?" "Yeah, after all it is a Greek myth." "The play is by Euripides" " A woman killing her kids to punish her ex-husband" "That is basically what she's doing." "She's hurting him to get to you." "No, she's making my life hell through him" "That's what she's doing, but sometimes you say things that just go too far" "Ok stop blaming me for everything that is wrong in this old thing with your wife, ok?" "Ex wife!" "Ex wife!" "For a long time!" " Ok you should have dealt better with her back then, she would not hate us so much, ok?" "Ok... ok..." "I screwed up." "Everything is not perfect in our life" "Now you're putting this shit on me about Henry?" "What shit?" "What are you talking about?" "Let me tell you what I am talking about:" "The moving to Chicago and giving up my life" "Now you mentioned that Henry needs you" "How do you think that makes me feel?" "I'm miserable, alright?" "How can I take that job now?" "Tell me, tell me" "I feel too guilty." "No, no, no, no." " It's the choice you're making." "Don't look at it like that, OK?" "It is in the nature of women:" "to be the nurturer." "The what?" "The nurturer." "The nurturer?" "Ok I can't even say that fucking word." "I just naturally feel bad about everything." "And you give me that look like it was my fault" " What look?" "That I forget to put in his bag the science project look." "I know you blame me" " I did not say anything" "No... you did not say anything." "You did not have to." "Yes, it's always my fault" " Yeah right" "I read on the fridge at work, you know those magnet words that people make sentences with" "Someone had put together:" ""women explore for eternity"" "In the vast garden of sacrifice" "Wow, that is a sure sign from God" "Yeah that line is so damn true..." "and it has been for 10,000 years" "But that's enough I don't want to be one of those women" "Like marriage is important to gays" "Or contraception to women rights it's the same with giving up my hopes" "With the millions of women that had to give up their hopes." "I'm not gonna do it!" "This is bigger than me this is more than me" "Wow, bravo, the Nobel Committee is taking note" "Wait I'll alert Sweden" "I mean... it must be a full-time job carrying that much feminine oppression" "It is." " You suffered so much growing up in middle class Paris" "I mean the agony in the trenches of the Sorbonne in the post-feminist era." "I can not imagine" " You're an asshole." "You know what sweetie?" "When are we moving to Chicago?" "I want to make sure we're able to find a nice house and I can saw the drapes and pick matching bed covers" "So that is how you want spending this evening?" "This is what I want to do tonight?" " Well, you started it." "You're the one who will not shut up about it but if you want to talk about it" "I mean really talk about it I would prefer to have an unemotional, rational conversation" "I mean, do you think we could do that?" "Would that be possible?" "Here we go Unemotional, rational" "You always play the part of the one and only rational one." "And I'm the irrational, hysterical, hormone-crazy on" "Because I have emotions, yeah You sit back and you speak from your big perspective" "Which means everything you say is level-headed and true" "I don't always do anything" " The world is fucked by irrational men deciding shit." "All right?" " Politicians going to war for no reason" "Corporate heads deciding to rape the environment" "Chaney, Rumsfeld, very rational men" "Chaney, Rumsfeld, yeah, ok" " If I know a solution" "Very rational thinking behind it" "Ok so it's us against the final solution" "Ok..." "let's do it right?" "Let me ask you this:" "Do you think Henry's life would be helped by more consistent presence by you and me?" "Here we go." "You won't drop it." "So let's talk about it." "Let me just ask you one question." "Do you think Hank's life would be better served by more consistent presence by you and me?" "Yes!" "I think it would be better if he lived with us" "And I think his mom is a fucking alcoholic, hateful cunt" "That used the time we were in Paris and I was giving birth" "And almost dying to legally move Henry out of New York." "Fuck her!" " Ok, I agree with you" "Ok, unfortunately we can not go and get him out of America" "But we could if we wanted to go to him." "Now I know that would be a big move" "But what do you think?" "I mean is there any way that you could be happy in the US?" "Or it's just out of the realm of possibility?" "I mean you could find a comparable job there?" "Comparable job?" "Are you kidding?" " No!" "Why am I the one that always has to make the compromises?" "I mean..." " Don't be so dramatic, ok?" "Well moving to Chicago is pretty fucking dramatic to me." "I'm not saying we should move." "I just want to talk about it." "You can be my friend for 2 seconds so we can talk?" "Ok 2 seconds" " Alright." "Do you remember that time you arrived like 35 minutes late to pick up the girls from school" "And you were so stressed out cause you knew they were out there in the playground." "Wondering what the hell happened to you?" "Ok, that is the way that I feel all the time." "You know, like I fucked up, I left him behind and I want to go and get him" "You always get like this when you drop him off" "You're sad and you start to fight." "He's fine, he's a great kid, ok?" "But the truth is that he does not need you the way he used to" "You missed the opportunity to be with him every day of his childhood" "And you can cry about it but he is growing up" "You're a great father in other ways, ok you go divorced like millions of other people" "Was it ideal?" "No." "But listen, if in one month you still want me to quit my job" "And give up everything I've been working towards all these years" "Just ask me but right now I I feel the same way I always have." "I would move back to the US if that diseased ex-wife of yours give us joint custody" "But every other weekend amounts to shit, Jesse" "Less than 30 days per semester" "And I don't think it is worth it for us to change our entire lives" "Over that kind of time" " I know you're right" "See?" "I'm being the rational." "It's just... a shitty position I mean Hank did not do anything" "But he is the one getting kicked to the teeth" "Now we have him in parents' lives" "If it wasn't me your marriage would have ended over something else" "Absolutely" " Or even worse he would have been raised by two miserable parents" "Right..." "Oh I fucked that up." "You mean you fucked up by moving to Paris to be with me?" "NO... that's not what I meant" "Stop!" "You know that's not what I meant" "I told you not to do ok?" " Stop it!" "Ok..." "I moved to New York to you for two years, and gave up everything" "But I needed to be home to give birth to the twins" "Because it was a complicated birth and I wanted to be with my mother and you wanted it, too." "Yes." "OK" " That's the one thing I ask from you." "The one thing... and now you're gonna blame me forever?" "Stop it, will you?" "Stop it." "If you do not want to move back to the States, we won't." "End of story." "Alright?" "I am just trying to find a way where I can be a more consistent presence in his life and ideally I would like to do that as a family" "As a family or what?" "What the fuck does that mean?" "I feel a passive-aggressive threat in everything you say," "Either do this or I will resent the rest of our lives" "Am I right?" "You know what?" "I'm sensing something..." "I think the problem is that you do not want me to have a more substantial job" "On some level you feel frightened by my achieveing something" "That would diminish your status in our relationship" "My status?" "In our relationship?" "I teach two courses a semester" "At a fucking American school damn ok?" "Wow that is really some status!" "I do not think it's any coincidence that you feel that way we are at the same time that I have a truly exciting job opportunity" "This whole train of thought is complete horseshit and you know it" "I have a question for you" " If we did not have the girls, all our crap" "Would we even still be together?" "What?" "You're the fucking mayor of crazy town." "You know?" "You are." " I think you have to move to Chicago" "I think Henry needs you and I have to stay" "In Paris with the girls and take this job" "Why are you doing this?" "That's a ridiculous idea, Like I'm gonna lose you and the girls?" "No!" "Why do you make everything so difficult?" " Jesse, you're unhappy with me." "You're blaming me for taking you away from your son" "That is a completely irrational response to something I'm just trying to feel my way through." "Listen Jessy" "We just spent the last 6 weeks here and it's been great" "You've been able to write every day and the weather has been nice." "But I did not want to come to Greece" " I know." "Right?" "There could be a revolution any second." "People eat a lot of feta and olive oil." "And they act all happy but they actually talk about how angry they are" "And it confuses me and I do not know what's gonna happen" "Let me tell you what's gonna happen, the same thing that always happens" "Nothing" "Right, you know what?" "I have had absolutely zero time for myself" "I have 10000 E-mails I have to answer that I did not answer" "Do you think I do not?" " OK, I spend all day making dinner" "And you and your Friends urinate on the toilet seat While You talk to your fellow novellist" "Blah, blah, blah." "You are a genius!" "Oh blah blah no!" "You are a genius!" "And the second we said goodbye to Henry you suggest that maybe I should quit my dream job" "Because you feel bad?" "OK, now it's your dream job" "This afternoon you weren't even sure you wanted it" "But now it's your dream job." "Do you ever listen to yourself?" "Yes, it's my dream job." "Just because I have doubts does not mean that I don't want it." "Alright, but why do you care?" "Every day you go on your two hours contemplative walk under the olive trees" "Oh Socrates, you should get a robe." "It's an hour" " No by the time you leave and by the time you actually with us again" "It's two hours." "I could never do that, you are very good at taking care of yourself" "I take care of myself and everything else" "We go somewhere you pack your bag and I pack everything else." "You never let me pack the girls' shit!" "Never!" "Cause there would be no shoes and plenty of dirty underwear" "Ok well you say that your" " I am happy that you have time to contemplate the universe" "And all the existential problems because I do not, I barely have time to think" "I work, I babysit, I work, I babysit." "Could you hold on a second, I just have to tune up the string section" "You know what?" "The only time I get to think now is when I take a shit at the office" "I'm starting to associate the thought with the smell of shit" "That is a good line!" "I will use that in a book someday" "Yes, I'm sure you will and it will be the best line of the book" "And by the way you may never ever use me or anything I say or do in one of your fucking books again and that goes for the girls, too" "Ok" "A:" "You should not get hooked up with a writer" "B:" "You were not in the last book or in the one I am writing now" "And C:" "I'm gonna write about whatever the fuck I want" "As always, our life works for you." "Do not give me this put-upon housewife bullshit" "OK?" "This is not the 50s." "I'm sorry to ruin your perfect little narrative of oppression." "With the truth but I'm the one who's at home every day dealing with the bullshit" " Cause you are working till 6:30" " Six o'clock." "You take the girls to school and I pick them up and that's fair, that's our deal" "We live in Paris, France, for Christ's sakes!" "And you remind me of it every single day" "I have orbited my entire life around you and you know it" "Ok?" "So I'm sorry if this summer's vacation is not a vacation" "For all I see is you frolic in the sea and throw Greek salad down your throat" "Ok?" "But it's not indicative of you spending your life in some kind of domestic servitude" "You know what I love about men?" "They still believe in magic." "Little fairies around who pick up the socks" "Little fairies unload the dishwasher" "Little fairies sunscreen children" "Little fairies who make the fucking Greek salad that you eat like a pig" "Ok listen to me, right?" "You are great in taking care of us." "You are." "I mean... you take care of the kids, you take care of your friends, you take care of the world, right?" "And you were like that before you were a mom and now it"s only magnified" "But... and I've been telling you this for years you got a little bit better" "Job taking care of yourself, you do" "Ok stop patronizing me, right?" "I am the one at home every day at 6:30" "I am reliable, have you ever booked a baby sitter ever in your entire life?" "No, what is the name of their pediatrician?" "Stop quizzing me." "It is really fucking boring." "Yeah Ok..." "You know what?" "I'm home every night, I make dinner, give baths" "And I read bedtime stories sometimes you're there or sometimes at a university event" "Or a publicity tour" "Ok?" "When you get inspired you keep on writing" "I get inspired sometimes, you know that?" "Want to write?" "Ok, write." "No, but remember I used to sing and play guitar and write songs." "I'd still like to do it but I don't get to that, there is not time." "Ok... well first off:" "my writing is not a hobby." "Secondly, I wish you would find the time..." "You somehow manage to find the time to complain about eight hours a day!" "And I mean..." "I love the way you sing ok?" "I fucked up my whole life cause of the way you sing" "Ok?" "If you took one eighth of the energy that you spend on bitching, whining" "And worrying, if you put that energy into playing scales" "I mean you would be like fucking Django Reinhardt" "OK" "You forgot your shoes." "You think you're winning?" "Very few people realize what it is like for an active and passionate woman to have a child" "Some friends told me that I would throw them out the window" "Ok?" "But the truth is that I never wanted to hurt them once" "But I thought about ending it all for myself over a 100 times" "I was so confused that you were always away in a stupid book tour" "Because of Henry's custody shit and do not want to be a burden" " Your wife put her head in the toaster" " It was an oven." "Do not play with words!" "You know what I mean." "Toaster, oven!" "Same thing." "Do you know how many times I was alone with the girls crying?" "Having no clue what to do?" "You know the guilt a mother feels when she does not know what to do?" "Do you think you're still have ownership to that feeling?" "I do not think you understand ok?" "OK, do you know what my secret fear is with every men?" "Is that they all want to turn me into a submissive housewife" "Ok... no one could ever do that" "I promise it would be easier to fit your head into a toaster." "than to turn you into anything submissive." "I don't think I recovered since giving birth" "When the girls were born I had no idea of what to do." "People expect women to have this instinct that kicks in." "Like a female baboon." "But I had no idea how to do anything." "I love them so much and I was doing everything wrong" "And you were away so often and calling me and asking me how my day went." "I could not even say it to you because I felt so ashamed to be so clueless." "Look I think you did right." " No, I didn't." "Sure, you did, you did a good job faking it right" "I remember that the only way to get them to sleep was to drag that stupid double stroller down the stairs and walk with them for hours and hours" "In the middle of the night All the way to Pigalle and back." "I almost got mugged once, the only thing why the guy didn't attack me was because I looked so pathetic." "The only upside of being 35 is that you do not get raped as much." "I read it, it's true" " Oh Jesus" "One time I remember that I was watching the twins on the trampoline" "And they looked so beautiful and I was happy because they were happy" "And one of them had this..." "Hulla-hoop that she was using as a jump rope" "But then the other wanted it so they started fighting over it" "And all of a sudden, I saw it all, you know" "All pity jealousy and selfishness" "And I remember thinking..." "OK, this is the natural human state" "Always a little dissatisfied, perpetually discontented" "I mean..." "Look at us" "Here we are, we are in... the Garden of Eden" "And we can not stop fighting" "I do not think there is one natural human state." "The human state is multiple." "I mean, if that's what you see when you're watching the girls play that means you're depressed" "Ok..." "Maybe I am." " When I see them fight I see beautiful energy of going forward in life and not letting anyone step on them or take away what they want" "You know, I like it when they fight." "It gives me hope for them." "Well it's cause you see they have positive emotions, you know" "Only end up hurting yourself, the kids, me" "And you never get angry?" " When I do, I don't see it as a positive" "You know something?" "The way you write in your books people come up to me" "And think that I make love to some wildcat Henry Miller type" "Ha, you like to have sex the exact same way Every time." "When you got it you got it" " Kissy, kissy, titty, titty" "Pussy..." "I am a man of simple pleasures" "Yeah, very simple" "And I've been meaning to tell you that lately You're no Henry Miller" "On any level" "You know what?" "This room gives me the creeps." "I was expecting something like the real Greece" "This place is real" " What are we doing here anyway?" "It is all too planned." "We are supposed to have this great evening." "You know... there's no room for spontaneity" "It has all gone from our lives." "And this is stupid and it is not working" "Ok... obviously" "And I curse Eleni and I curse Stefano for doing this" "Ok a couples' massage?" "!" "What the fuck is that!" "?" "That sounds sleazy to me." "No, we don't have to do it!" "ok?" "C'mon, this place isn't so bad." "I like hotel rooms" "I think they are sexy" " Yeah I know you do." "Mr. book tour" "Mr. Radisson Hilton" "And I know that time when you were doing that reading in Washington" "When your cellphone was supposed to have broke that night." "How convenient!" "You swore on our kids that you did not fuck that lady from the bookstore" "Emily" "Swear to me that you did not fuck that Emily girl." "And I'm not jealous because I'm not the jealous type" "But I just want to know is." "Be a man and admit the truth!" "I'm giving you my whole life ok?" "I goth nothing large to give." "I'm not giving it to anybody else." "If you're looking for permission to disqualify me," "I'm not gonna give it to you." "Ok?" "I love you" "Right?" "And I am not in conflict about it, OK but if what you want is like a laundry list of everything about you that piss me off I can give it to you" "Yeah I want you to" "Ok good" "Let's start at number one" "Number one... you're fucking nuts." "Alright?" "You are." "Good luck finding somebody else who'd put up with your..." "Your shit for more than like six months but I accept the whole package" "The crazy and the brilliant, right?" "I know you're not gonna change and I do not want you to" "It's called I accept you for being you" "Ok I asked you a question, if while I was carrying that double stroller down the stairs, and getting ass-raped in Pigalle Did you fuck that little Emily Bronte girl ?" "Ok..." "I do not even know what Emily you're talking about." "The one that wrote the nice E-mails about Dostoevsky" "Oh Jessy, you're so right the grand commander is the deepest passage" "Of all of Russian literature" "If you are asking me if I'm committed to you, the girls, and the life we built together, the answer is a resounding yes" "So you did fuck her, thank you very much" "Do I ever ask you about the time you went to visit your old boyfriend after his mother died?" "No." "You want to know why?" "Because I know the way that your fucking French ass works" "And I guarantee that at least you blew that guy." "But I also know that you love me and I'm OK with you being a complicated human being" "I do not want to live a boring life where two people own each other" "Where two people are institutionalized in a box that others created" "Because that is a bunch of stifling bullshit!" "You know what's going on here?" "It's simple" "I do not think I love you any more." "I do not want to talk right now." " Are you by yourself?" "Are you waiting for someone?" "Yeah I'm by myself and happy to be I'm an angry person" "And I hurt my kids, my work and everyone I love" "Ok..." "I'm not in the mood." "I came here to be alone." "Listen I've been checking you out from accross the café" "And I don't want to make you uncomfortable" "But you are by far the best-looking woman in this place" " Thank you very much." "Yes, I'd love to buy a drink or maybe talk to you a little bit" "You know, are you here for business?" "OK, so you have a boyfriend" "Not any more" "I'm sorry to hear that, God, you want to talk about it?" "I do not talk to strangers." " Well I'm not a stranger" "We have met before, in the summer of 94" "You're mistaking me for someone else" "No" "We even fell in love." " Really?" "Hm, I vaguely remember someone sweet and romantic" "That made me feel like I was not alone any more" "Someone with respect for who I was" "That's me" "I'm that guy" " I do not think so" "See?" "I know something about you that you do not know" "Really?" "What is that?" " Something important" "You see, I know because I've actually already lived through this night" "How?" "Let me tell you" "Ok..." "I have a room there at the hotel" "I've come to save you Just like I said I would." "Save me from what?" " Save you from all the little bullshit, alright?" "It's not bullshit." " I assure you that guy you vaguely remember that you met on the train" "That is me" "That's you?" " Yeah" "Cause I did not recognize you" "You look like shit" "Well what can I say?" "I mean it is tough out there in time and space" "You're... on the other hand are even more beautiful than I remember" "Bullshit" "Jesse, this is not a game, you get all cute You get in my panties," "And next thing I know I'm buying peanut butter in Chicago" "You're not gonna make it better by some pick-up playing" "Actually you're misunderstanding me" "No, no..." "I'm only here as a messenger" "I just traveled all the way from the future, I was just with your 82-year-old self who gave me a letter to read you" "So here I am" " I'm still alive in my 80s?" "Oh, yeah" "How's my French ass?" " Nice, really nice" "I do not care about the way I look" " Let us just say it is better" "Ok, great" "Do you want me to read it?" " Do I have a choice?" "Sure if you're not interested in..." " No, no, no." "Read it." "OK." "Here it is:" "Dear Celine, I am writing to you from the other side of the woods" "This letter is lighting a candle" "OK, stop it." "I would never write this "from the other side of the woods"?" "What fucking woods?" "May I please continue?" "Ok..." "I'm sending you this young man" "Yes, young" "And he will be your escort" "God knows he has many problems and he's struggled his whole life connecting and being present, even with those he loves the most" "And, for that, he is deeply sorry" "But you are his only hope" "Celine" "My advice is this:" "You're entering the best years of your life" "Looking back from where I sit now, these middle years are only a bit more difficult than when you were 12 and Mathew and Vanessa danced all night to the Bee Gees' "How deep is your love"" "I do not know that..." "Anyway..." "Celine you will be fine, your girls will grow up to become examples and icons of feminism" " Nice one." "Yeah well you know I just noticed that there's a postscript on the bottom" "Maybe I just skip over, this is kind of boring" "Yes skip away, please, skip away" "Ok... sure?" " Yes!" "Alright, well..." " Boring stuff" "Ok... yeah, (blah.blah blah, financial tips, horoscopes)" "Ok..." "Here it is:" "P.S. by the way" "By the way, the best sex of my life happened one night" "In the Southern Peloponnese" "Do not miss it!" "My whole sexual being went to a whole new ground-breaking level ...ground-breaking, great" "Look Jesse can you stop this stupid game?" "We're not in one of your stories" "Ok?" "Did you hear what I said to you back in the room?" "Did you hear me?" "Yes" "I heard you" "That you don't love me anymore?" "I thought you did not mean it but if you did then..." "Oh, fuck it, you're like those little girls and everybody else you live inside some fairy tale, right?" "I'm just trying to make things better here" "I tell you that I loved you unconditionally I tell you that you're beautiful" "I tell you that your ass looks great when you're 80" "I'm trying to make you laugh" " Ok" "I put up with plenty of your shit and if you think I'm just some dog that keeps coming back" "Then you're wrong." "But if you want true love then this is it." "This is real life." "It's not perfect but it's real and If you can not see it then you are blind" "Alright, I give up" "So what about this time machine?" "What do you mean?" "How does it work?" "It's complicated" "Am I gonna have to get naked to operate it?" "I mean..." " Yeah, it is a real issue" "I say closed and does not travel well through whole space-time continuum" "Wow, you're so smart." "Jesus" " Space-time?" "Continuum." "Continuum?" "Yeah" "You know sometimes I think about your letter" "You know you..." "Do you live in the Southern Peloponnese?" "Yes, yes and..." "we are in the Southern Peloponnese" "And do you think it could be tonight that you were talking about in your 80s?" "Well..." "It was definitely one hell of a night we were about to have." "Machine translation completely re-written by hhgygy"