A GOOD YEAR screenplay by Mare Klein Based on the novel by Peter Mayle White: 05/09/05 Blue: 05/09/05 Pink: 07/09/05~ Green: 19/09/0509/19/2005 1, EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - LATE AFTERNOON 1 A rustic Provencal farmhouse, surrounded by rows of well-kept vines. Up above, the sky is a sparkling jewelbox of stare, Down below, all is quiet, except for the chirrup of the cigales... EXT, FARMHOUSE - GARDEN - SAME 2 A gorgeous trellis of jasmine and honeysuckle is lit by a pair of flickering candles. Beneath it, MAX SKINNER, age 12, sits alone, puffing a cigar while staring at a chess bosrd, Pondering his next move. An old radio broadcasts in French... FRENCH DJ La prochaine chanson est exécutée ce soir par Josphine Baker. MAX (practicing French) La pro-shane...shan-sone...est ex-6- cu-tée... Josephine Baker’s “Breezin’ Along With the Breeze” comes on...as Max's eyes drift across the garden-- MAX'S POV - ENTRANCE TO THE WINE CELLAR A shaft of light spills out from the cellar. Downstairs, we can HEAR wine bottles being moved and RATTLED. BACK TO SCENE Max taps his ash. His eyes anxiously dart between the chessboard and the cellar entrance. Finally, with ‘the ease of an experienced con artist, Max slides his bishop one Square forward... just as he hears footsteps climbing the staire. Max quickly crosses his arms, resuming hie pose of deep contemplation. THE WINE CELLAR Bmerging from the cellar is Max’s UNCLE HENRY, early-so’s. dache Henry is a sermonizing eccentric, with warm, knowing Ries" pand the countenance of a man who hasn’t worked very hard for a very long time. He wears a pair of pajamas ghirt-top opened, revealing a round Buddha belly. He puffs on a cigar, as he crosses the lawn, swinging a bottle of red...09/19/2005 1a, UNCLE HENRY Max my boy -- seeing that it’s your last night here, I thought it only appropriate that we open something extra special...09/19/2005 2. He presents the wine with the flourish of a waiter. UNCLE HENRY ace Tempier Bandol. 1969. The kind of wine that’1l pickle even the toughest of men... T once saw a Castilian prizefighter collapse into a heap after drinking just a single glass. Of course, my knee landing squarely on his testicles may have been partly to blame, He begins opening the bottle. ‘UNCLE HENRY What was I talking about before? MAX Blue suits. UNCLE HENRY Blue suite? MAX You said the importance of a good blue suit can never be overstated. UNCLE HENRY Quite right. A blue suit is the most versatile of accoutrements... But even more important than the suit itself is the tailor who fits it for you. Take note, Max: once you find a good tailor, you're not to give his name away -- not even under the threat of bodily harm. Uncle Henry pours a glass for himself. one for Max. Then spills a little water into Max’s glass, just to soften it a bit. He takes a seat. UNCLE HENRY Now where were we? Whose turn is it? MAX Mine. Uncle Henry suspiciously studies the board. He quickly suspects that Max has moved his bishop.09/19/2005 2A. UNCLE HENRY Max, have I told you why T enjoy making wine so much?09/19/2005 3, MAX You don’t make the wine, Uncle Henry, that guy Duflot does. Max points out to the vineyard..,where -- far off -- a lone FIGURE rides a tractor across the land... UNCLE HENRY You're starting to sound like a communist, Max. In France, it’s always the landowner that makes the wine, even if all he does is supervise with binoculars from the comfort of his study. (swirls his wine) Now then -- I enjoy making wine because this sublime nectar is, quite simply, incapable of lying. You see Max, all the work we do here at La Siroque -- all the Planting, all the harvesting, all the fermenting -- it’s nothing more than the art of bottling truth, Par example: if perchance one year it rains too much, the wine will tell you that very easily, by the depth of it’s color... (holds the wine up to a candle) and if it rains too little, it/11 tell you that too...in it’s aroma and bouquet... (sniffs the wine) Pick too early, pick too late, it matters not -- the wine will always whisper into your mouth with complete, unabashed honesty, every time you take a sip... (takes a sip) Abhh... Delightful. (then; serious) So Max-a-million...now that you know why T love wine so much, do you have something you want to tell me...? ex looks at his Uncle, poker-faced. Then down at the chess board.09/19/2005 3A. UNCLE HENRY Well...what is it? Max gulps his wine. Then, moves his bishop--09/19/2005 4 Checkmate. CUT TO BLACK, EXT. LONDON - LAWTON BROTHERS OFFICE BUILDING - MORNING 3 A three-story glass and concrete box at the top end of Threadneedle Street. A title reads: MANY VINTAGES LATER... INT. LAWTON BROTHERS - BOND TRADING BULLPEN - MORNING 4 A platoon of young, Saville Row-draped BOND TRADERS sit at their desks -- uncharacteristically quiet. They wear the faces of soldiers who are about to enter battle, KENNY, an overly-eager Australian trader, 20's, eyes his computer. KENNY 115.10, Max, Feels like we oughta move now. Kenny glances across the bullpen to his boss, the team’s Managing Director. It’s MAX SKINNER, almost 40. Max ig a handsome, self-absorbed, rascal of a man whose desire ts cin knows no limits. He sits with his feet up on his desk, wearing an exquisitely tailored blue suit, reading the Financial Times. MAK Not yet, Alf. KENNY Boss, why do you keep calling me Alf? MAX Because you’re an Aggressive Little Beer, Kenny. And as your boss, and genetic superior, I can call you what T like. Now let the price come to you...not the other way around. A phone RINGS. Max’s assistant answers. she is GEMMA TAYLOR, mid-20’s, a bright and attractive Englishwoman with a playful, oftentimes abusive, wit.09/19/2005 4a. GEMMA Max Skinner's desk. (beat) One moment please. (to Max) It’s Kimberly.A 09/19/2005 Max gives her the “thumbs down”. GEMMA (into phone) Sorry Kimberly, Mr. Skinner isn’t here. He and his fiancee are at their wedding rehearsal today... 145.40? The team snaps into gear and awaits Max's signal. Max watches the price of the bond on his screen... MAX Okay people... just remember: we/re not here for the dental plan. at my signal, unleash hell... Max Stands. Walks to the window. Stares across the City to a sleek, Girkin building: Lustig Bank...his competitor. KENNY 115.50, MAX That’s it! Go! INT. STOCK EXCHANGE - cITY 4a lots of men respond imnediately...frantic tick tack business. INT. LONDON - LUSTIG BANK - BOND TRADING FLOOR - SAME 5 it’s @ slow sunmer morning. Not much activity. CAMERA MOVES AN on.» ;AMIS RADFORD, 40’s -- a scrappy East Ender with o Beck thicker than a Redwood tree. He glances at his computer screen, bewildered. AMIS That miserable sod. Skinner's dumping bonds onto the European market. TRADER He can’t do that -- there's a gentleman's agreement on the MTS exchange.09/19/2005 SA. AMIS A gentleman’s agreement pre- supposes there’s a gentleman involved.09/19/2005 6. TRADER #1 Amis, he’s put out three billion in sell orders! Prices are crashing! AMIS Get off your arses people -- we've got to cover our positions! SERIES OF SHOTS 6 Every BOND FLOOR in London is in chaos, as TRADERS shout and frantically try to stem their losses. INT, LAWTON BROTHERS - A BIT LATER 7 MAX Where we at? KENNY Down two big figures, 113.501 INT. LUSTIG RANK - saME : 8 ERSagSE Obe ,amis stares out the window, across the city to the Lawton Brothers skyscraper. ..muttering to himself, AMIS This whole thing doesn’t make any sense. Unless... INT. LAWTON BROTHERS - SAME 9 Gee Watches the bond price hit 112.50, then leaps out of his chair-- Max Start buying! Everything you can get your hands on! Go! Go! Gol Zhe bullpen erupts into chaos. The CAMERA CLOSES in on Max, who flashes a satisfied, devious grin.09/19/2005 INT. LUSTIG BANK - same AMIS (panicked) Mother Mary, that filthy bugger forced down prices, now he’s gonna buy everything back on the cheap! 6a. 9A10 09/19/2005 7. INT. LAWTON BROTHERS - SAME 9B GEMMA, You've gone too far this time, Max. MAX (braggart) Gemma, when they hang me, make sure they bury me face down so I know which way I’m headed... INT. LAWTON BROTHERS “CIRCUS CLUB” - MINUTES LATER 10 ihe place is filled with plasma screens that broadcast pusiness reports from all over the world, as well ao health food counters. The gang from Lawton Brothers serenades tte dgader, soft drinks swinging in the air, as Nax crocke sone “illegal” bottles of bubbly into plastic cups. cane * -- for he’s a jolly good fell- ohhh! Which nobody can deny!" > then, with the tiniest of voices - GEMMA I ea Applause, cheers and (much to Max's consternation) calle for “Speech! Speech!" Max steps atop a chair MAX Were you not entertained!? WERE! YOU! “NOT! ENTERTAINED! ‘The mob cheers. Max settles them with aplomb, Max Well. Today, I think we proved that old adage correct: “Winning isn’t everything. .. ALL IN UNISON ++-TT’S THE ONLY THING!” MAX Great work today, everybody! Really. Thank you for it! Tanysbblauds his team...and makes brief eye contact with a TWENTYSOMETHING BEAUTY across the space.10a 10B 09/19/2005 MAK Our competitors will say that what we did today exploited a loophole. That we “crossed a line" and broke a “sacred covenant of trust” within the bond trading fraternity. Well, to them I respectfully say: (as erudite as possible) “Ha -- hal" Big cheers. It’s good to be Max Skinner. INT. SMALL FLAT - BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT 10a Post-coitus. The Twentysomething Beauty lies naked on the bed, snoring, her sumptuous body tangled within the sheets. Max, gripping his clothes in a ball, creeps out of the apartment, checking his hair in the mirror before he leaves. INT. TOWN CAR - NIGHT 108 in the back, Max, bleary-eyed, watches a mini-TV as he’s chauffeured home. CNN NEWS ANCHOR (London markets) y;s8nd while not technically illegal, Lawton Brothers’ actions this morning represented an unprecedented breach of financial etiquette.. Cries of ‘foul play’ were loud and widespread... .with talks of some kind of inquiry. Max frowns, dismissive, clicks off, EXT. LONDON STREETS ~ WET - DANN ai 2 Sleek apartment building sits on the edge of the Thanes, Shrouded in a gloomy soup of drizzle and fog. Max's Tow Car glides up in front, INT. MAX’S APARTMENT BUILDING - WEE HOURS - MOMENTS LATER 12 4 DOORMAN opens the door as Max enters, briefcase in tow.09/19/2005 8a. DOORMAN Gocd morning, Mr. Skinner... (handing Max his mail} And congratulations.13 09/19/2005 9. MAX Thank you, Bert. DOORMAN You mighta tipped me off, Mr. Skinner. Max Buy on the rumor, Bert.. +gell on * the now. iad As the elevator doors shut. DOORMAN (sotto) Tosser! MAX {sotto) Wanker! INT. MAX’S APARTMENT - DAWN 13 essiat is sleek, modern, expensively appointed. valle of glass give the impression’ that the place ie literally gloating in the foggy, dawn sky. Gekko’s “Greed so food” quote is framed on canvas, dominating the largest wali”, Bex gkims through his mail. t's mostly junk, but there's one intriguing envelope with a French stamp. At a wet bar, Max pours himself a tumbler of Scotch, decanter Mione hand. Appraising the letter: CABINET AUZET” NOTATRES, RUE DES REMPARTS, 84160, GORDES, * Max opens the letter...hia reaction is to walk through to the living room a little crestfalien. INT. LIVING ROOM - SAME - DAWN 14 ar nis window, he stares out across the Thames, grief in his eyes. He downs his scotch. MAX (quiet) Bh, hell...Henry. Along the river, the lights go out, signaling a new morning,08/19/2005 10. INT. MAX'S OFFICE - THE FOLLOWING DAY 15 A massive fish tank. Max leans against it, reading the morning’s Financial Times, whose headline blares: “LAWTON SCORHS BIG IN DAWN RAID.” Kenny arrives in the frame, handing Max a shot of espresso, waving Max's morning meseages... KENNY Ready for the fan mail? (Max nods) “Bastard.” “Bastard.* ‘Burn in hell." “Rot in hell.” “Die.« “Congratulations, you're my hero." MAX Who was that from? KENNY Your attorney, Max looks up. Gemma taps on glass from inside Max's office. INT. MAX’S OFFICE - SAME 16 GEMMA I just got off the phone with Auzet, the notaire handling your Uncle Henry's estate. MAX (blanking) Oh! The one who sent me the letter. GEMMA Seema your uncle hadn't updated his will in over twenty years. Which is why, in typical French fashion, it tock them a month to notify you. MAX So? Is there going to be a reading Of the will or do we just “download” that sort of thing these days? GEMMA That’s the point, Max: there is no legal will. (MORE)09/19/2005 10a. GEMMA (cont 'd) You're his closest blood relative, 80 you get everything.09/19/2005 12 MAX (disinterested) What -- his clothes and LPs? GEMMA, (following) The house, you git. You get his house. As Max digests that, Kenny enters behind her. MAX (touched marginally) The old farmhouse? The pool and vineyard and everything? KENNY (intrusively) A place like that must be worth a pretty penny these days, eh? Max look at him, annoyed at the intrusion. GEMMA I booked you a flight and made an appointment with Auzet for three tomorrow afternoon. Just a few papers to sign. MAX Right...Wait! what, no! 1m not going to France tomorrow, Gem. I'm the toast of the town, I need to take a few victory laps around the city. (waving his phone messages proudly as evidence) Sce -- everybody hates me. KENNY Go on, Max. We'll take good care of the place while you’re gone. No worries. jox inspects the ambitious little shit beside him, then hands him his expresso-- MAX Go, there must be animals you can kick somewhere ~- go, get your..,back waxed. He shuts the door behind him. Gemma faces him. *09/19/2005 11a, GEMMA, Tell me something, Max: did you care for him?09/19/2005 12. MAX Who? GEMMA, Your uncle, of course. Max has to give this pause, GEMMA When was the last time you spoke? Max Ages ago. GEMMA Why? MAX Don’t know really. I think it had something to do with my becoming an asshole, EXT. EVENING - BERKELEY SQUARE - DRIZZLE 16a Max strides with his umbrella, under the trees. INT. HTP RESTAURANT - CORNER BOOTH - NIGHT 17 Swarms of Notting Hill lovelies fi11 the restaurant, Max sycers, and skillfully wades his way through the crowd ce admiring women, kissing many, whispering to others °” Meanwhile, CHARLIE WILLIS, mid-30’s, real estate broker, Casts furtive glances at his WATTRESS’s pert bosom while she pours him a taste of red wine, CHARLIE Looks lovely, thank you. (another glance at them) Really, really lovely. pax Slides into the booth, and watches, amused, as Charlie begins a pretentious “tasting” ritual. CHARLIE First, the pleasure of the eyes; by way of an inapection of the polyphenolics. He tilta the glass to observe its color. weedCHARLIE Magnificent hues of brick red indicating a mature Bordeaux, 09/19/2005 aaa,08/19/2005 12a. WAITRESS It’s a Burgundy. CHARLIE, (covering) Slip of the tongue... Next, the retro-nasal cavity. He Swirls the wine gently, then dips his nose into the glass. He inhales, but accidentally snorts up some wine, and he coughs. and chokes for a moment. CHARLIE Marvelous. (cough) +++bouquet. Alluring nose of... (cough, cough) ++ -honey and spice... Max it's coming out of your ears, Charlie, (harlie trills, then swallows the wine, eyes leaden with resplendent joy. CHARLIE Mmmm... (to Waitress) That'll do nicely. You can let it breathe for a while.. (catches himself) No, wait, we can do better than fhat -- you can let it... regain it’s composure. Max While I regain mine. WAITRESS (to Max) Wine for you, sir? MAX A Rémy-Martin, a double, please. CHARLIE (to her, with one “final glance, which Max clocks) Thank you. AA eee eee08/19/2005 13. MAX Charlie, you should try and keep your eyes more...up. Makes her think you have serious intentions, CHARLIE (following her ass as it struts away) Oh, but I do, Max, I do... MAX So, mate...what do you think 1/11 get for it? CHARLIE (affronted) Max, barely a day since you learned your long-lost Uncle croaked, and still, the only thing on your mind is money, MAX The very Uncle you speak of once taught me that every man needs an “£-you million” in the bank. I've simply decided that T want to say “f-you" more than once. Several times, in fact. CHARLIE At least furnish me the Particulars. An estate agent needs Something he can sink his teeth into. Max grabs a hunk of bread. starts nibbling, MAX it’s been a while since I’ve been there, mind you... But I think there were about a half dozen bedrooms. A decent-sized kitchen, A pool. A tennis court. oh yeah, there's also the vineyard. about eleven hectares. CHARLIE Bloody hell, Max. Sounds like an estate tome. A chateau. MAX Yeah? What’s a chateau goin’ for these days?08/19/2005 13a. Charlie mses over the i mage of a Provencal palace, as he sniffs his wine.18 20 09/19/2005 14, CHARLIE. A few “f-you's." Maybe nore. Max (delighted) Bless that old sod! CHARLIE I won‘t cut my commission. Max I didn’t ask you to. CHARLIE In that case... (holds up his glass) here's to f-ing you. cor To: OMITTED 18 EXT. MARIGNANE AIRPORT - DAY 19 Max emerges from the terminal to be overwhelmed by sunlight. Be oguints, then takes out his Treo to check eomatl meson pausing to regard the cloudless miles of sky above. AT A CAR RENTAL LOT - MARSEILLE - SUNSHINE 20 the’ gPassport in his mouth and carrying a briefcase, prowls the stalls, checking the number on his rental key against the peace mumbers beneath sporty Peugeots and Renaulte ? at last, de comes to bis car: a tiny, lime-green Smart Can’ 10 thinks about the hassle of changing vehicles. .half tae back, then settles for it, MAX (squeezing: in) Dammit, Gemma! EXT. ROAD - FREEWAY N7 - DAY 21 Hex’ s Smart Car scoots along the freeway passing magnificent landscape.09/19/2005 aaa, INSIDE Max doesn’t notice outside, he’s struggling with the Gps as it repeats itself.22 09/19/2005 is, GPS VOICE (0.s,) Bonjour et bienvenue. ‘os clest Ia Systeme du position globale. Max stabs at the control Panel in frustration. Max (shouting) English, please! EXT. BEAUTIFUL, ROAD WITH MAJESTIC TREES — pay 22 Max's car toddles around the bend. INSIDE Max drives. Byes on roag, Ear to phone, Max (into phone) Kenny. I want the current 10 year yield. I want an update on the figures for non-farh payrolls. and Twant you out of my cnire! INT. LONDON - LawToN BROTHERS - sawz 23 Renny sits there, in Max's chair, feet on the desk. He hangs up. KENNY How'd he know that? Glances round the room for hidden cameras...25 09/19/2005 16. EXT. ROAD - MOVING 24 Max passes a French, testosterone Picycle club who all grin gnd jeer at the little car. Moe fingers them through tha oof as he goes by... Max LANCE ARMSTRONG} They all finger back, etc, SKT. HIGH TECH FLOWER STALL — pay 25 London. Raining. cenma is buying tulips with a friend, Her phone rings, (0.8.) Admit it. This is because 1 didn’t bang you on your birthday. GEMMA naitea® on my Life max they didn’ have any other cars, (winks to her friend) So where are we? EXT. PROVENCE PANORAMA - pay 26 Beautiful patchwork vista of yenerbes. A small green speck hops at a crossroads, otherwise there is no movement in the landscape, V.0., then cut into Max, MAX felow the Luberon with Saint-pons Pong north. The sign says Ssiat- Rong to the south. “And the crores a slight stutter, GPS VOICE (0.g.) ++ -avancez...avancez. EXT. LONDON - same 27 Gemma studying her Treo.09/19/2005 16a. GEMMA Turn left. That’11 put you back on the N7. If you really motor you’ 11 still make your appointment...29 30 30B 31 09/19/2005 17. EXT, WIDE SHOT - PROVENCE - SAME 28 Max makes the turn....following her directions... EXT. LONDON - TRENDY CAFE - MINUTES LATER 29 Genma’s sitting under an awning having a fag and cappuccino when her phone rings GEMMA, Mission control? BACK IN FRANCE - BEAUTIFUL DIRT ROAD - TREE AND VINEYARD AND CASTLE - PARADISE Max stands outside his car, surveying his problem. MAX (0.8.) (agitated) Gemma. Please call the notaire and have her leave the keys underneath the big stone beside the entrance. We'll have to reschedule for first thing tomorrow morning. EXT. TRENDY CAPE - SAME 30A GEMMA Copy that. Max, where are you? What‘s that noise? EXT. ROAD - SAME 308 His head turns to see-- MAX Your replacement. A BRAYING DONKEY BLOCKING RIS PATH. EXT. PROVENCE - RURAL ROAD - LATE AFTERNOON aa Max, now seriously irritated... GPS VOICE avancez...avancez...tournez a iroite a 100 metres...09/19/2005 217A. Max passes a driveway with twin pillars. A faded bronze plaque: ‘CHATEAU LA SIROQUE.’ He stops, backs up the car, and stares at the sign. This is it.32c 33 03/19/2005 18. EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE ESTATE - LATE AFTERNOON 32 Max pulls up in front of a sprawling house. A little run- down and in need of a coat of paint but nevertheless familiar. He turns off his motor. Steps out, and feels like the only human being for miles. It’s very, very quiet. He locks the Smart Car. CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH... He walks past the table where he and his Uncle used to play chess. He touches it as he passes. ~- WE VIEW MAX FROM AFAR, OVER SOMEONE’S SHOULDER. Max's being spied on, by -- -- FRANCIS DUFLOT, sweat-stained and sunburned, years of toil etched in his face. He sits on an idling tractor which is dripping with fresh, blue pesticide. Cell phone to his ear. DUFLOT 11 est arrive... #XT, COPTAGE - FAR END OF THE VINEYARD - ESTABLISHING 32A Smoke drifts from the chimney... INT. COTTAGE - SAME 323 Standing above the hot stove, also staring out at the bastide, is LUDIVINE DUFLOT, 40’s, She’s on the phone with her husband... MADAME DUFLOT (warning) Be nice, Francis. Don’t go with a face like a boot, go with a smile. EXT. BASTIDE - DRIVEWAY 32c Max crosses the gravel driveway. Lifts the stone beside the * entrance and unearths a pair of huge brass keys. * INT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - ENTRY - LATE AFTERNOON 33 A key rattles in the door -- CLICK -- Magic hour sunlight spills in, framing Max in the doorway. He breathes a wave of nostalgia. The old, familiar smell.34 35 36 09/19/2005 19. MAK Halloo? ‘Allo? (then; experimentally) Uncle Henry? Of course, no answer. He passes a picture of Henry and his younger self barefoot, crushing grapes and laughing. INT, KITCHEN - MOMENTS LATER 34 Max stands in a kitchen with a cast-iron range and a big wooden plank table. From.a.bowl, Max plucks a ripe tomato; someone’s been keeping up the place. EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - GARDEN - SAME 35 Max, without tie and jacket, takes in the air, not savoring it so much as detecting a change from London. He bites into the tomato, ,.SQUIRT!...unaware that he has stained his white shirt. AT THE POOL Drained, with a layer of leaves and slime coating the bottom, @ diving board balances on rusted springs. Walking out onto the board and Max gives a little bounce. Its gives a THUDDER. BE jumps again, THUDDER THUD. Grins. Max's POV: a derelict tennis court is raised on a bank above the old pool. The THUD of the board transforms into a tennis game’s plop-thwang, plop-thwang, plop-thwang...distant arguments, protests, etc. EXT. TENNIS COURT - SECONDS LATER 36 It’s a weedy clay court, surrounded by a rusted fence. The court is covered with leaves from a tree that’s been planted on the edge. The tree spreads dappled shadows across the court. In the distance, Max steps through the rotting gate and takes in the scene, a surge of nostalgia bubbling up... UNCLE HENRY VOTCE Match point, Max! WE ARE NOW IN A FLASHBACK...09/19/2005 19a. MAX'S POV - ON HIS LPT AT THE FAR END 37 UNCLE HENRY -- wearing too-tight Dunlop shorts and a pair of ratty sandals -- stands holding a tennis racket in one hand, and a glass of white wine in the other.09/19/2005 20. MAX'S POV - ON HIS LEFT YOUNG MAX -- wearing a headband and wristbands and looking like a pint-sized version of John McEnroe, bad tempered. YOUNG MAX It’s too dark to play Uncle Henry! I can’t see! ‘UNCLE HENRY Nonsense, Max, at your age I could spot a hyena on the veldt at three quarters of a mile. Uncle Henry lines up his serve. THWACK! Dead-center. Max lunges for the ball as if his life depended on it, but misses anyway. UNCLE HENRY Ace! Game, set, match! Uncle Henry dances in the “end zone" in celebration. Pissed, Young Max slams his racket to the court...and walks toward the service box to examine the line. YOUNG MAX YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! Uncle Henry continues to gloat...without mercy. YOUNG MAX You don’t have to rub it int UNCLE HENRY The real question, Max, is why you aren’t celebrating. YOUNG MAX Because I lost. Uncle Henry pours himself a refill from a day cooler on the court. UNCLE HENRY Max...a man should acknowledge his losses as gracefully as he celebrates his victories... (goading) Now give us a jig...for your old Uncle’s sake.09/19/2005 20a. Following orders, Young Max makes a half-hearted attempt to dance around the court.38 09/19/2005 21. UNCLE HENRY Try harder, Max-a-million! Focus! Arms up in triumph! (not happy with his performance) Dance boy -~ don’t shimmy like an Italian! Young Max raises his arms, but he’s just not feeling it...and abruptly stops. MAX This is stupid. Uncle Henry crosses the court and tussles the boy’s hair. UNCLE HENRY Someday, Max, you'll come to see that a man learns nothing from winning. The act of losing, however, can elicit great wisdom...not the least of which is how much more enjoyable it is to win... It is essential to lose now and then... The trick is not to make a habit of it THE PRESENT. EXT. VINEYARD - LATER 38 Max walking through the vineyard. Kneels down. Notices that there are roses at the head of each row. Stoops down, scoops up some dirt, and sniffs it. Makes a face. Ugh. OFFSCREEN VOICE Chickenshit... Duflot appears from out of the vines...trailed by his blue dog Tati. DUFLOT It is the only thing for them. Before Max can react, Duflot kisses him three times on the cheeks, then bearhugs him. Duflot's a real sweaty guy with a persistent swarm of gnats whirling around him. MAX Monsieur Duflot? My God, you've...uh.. matured.09/19/2005 21. DUFLOT Crest vrai. The floods of ‘78. The Mistral of ‘86. Fanleaf disease in ‘93. (MORE)09/19/2005 22. DUFLOT (cont'd) With each vintage I have corked away another year of my youth. But, still, I have my wife Ludivine, and my dog Tati, who is loyal, affectionate, and... MAX «+ sblue.. Max stares down at the blue terrier. BARK! BARK! DUFLOT (gestures; c’est Ja vie) I expect you are hungry, no? My wife is tonight roasting a lamb-- MAX Thank you, but no. I am tired, and don’t have much of an appetite... since I learned about Henry. DUFLOT (tear in his eye) In the last few years, hie sight was failing. But I attended to things for him. We became very close, you know? Almost like father and son. MAX (cynical) I'm happy that someone was here to take care of him. DUFLOT Zon! Ludivine will come in the morning...with croissants...she will resume her duties. MAK If you insist. Well... Bon nuit, Duflot. DUFLOT A demain, Max heads back to the house. He feels like he’s being watched, so he stops, turns, and sure enough, Duflot is watching him...only his head is showing. Duflot gestures with a smile, then disappears like a ghost in the gloaming, as we...40 40A, 09/19/2005 23. INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT 39 Max finds a bottle of ‘La Siroque’ on the table, with a note from Ludivine that reads: “Bienvenu.” Also a small plate of goat cheese. He pulls the cork, pours a glass. Takes a sniff. MAX Ah...La Sireque. INT. UNCLE HRNRY’S STUDY - MINUTES LATER 40 Max spies an old record player with a stack of 45’s balancing in position on the silver spindle. Henry's final playlist! Max turns the player on, lines up the records...and lets the first record drop... Noel Coward’s voice CRACKLES: NOEL COWARD -2 room with a view, and you, and no one to hurry us... MAX (singing the rest) +..Mo one to worry us...” Max peruses photos of Henry. Inspects a wall overstuffed with books (Greene, Maughm, Waugh, Wodehouse}. Then, raises the glass, affectionately, to a photograph of Uncle Henry grinning back at him. MAX Here’s to you Henry. For devoting your life to the vines, and bottling the truth... Take a sip. Runs the wine around his palate. Nods in recognition. MAX Well, that was honest... He opens a window and spits it out. INT. UNCLE HENRY’S BEDROOM - LATER 40a Max stands in only his socks and boxers, scrubbing the tomato stain out of his dress shirt. Outside, there is a chorus of hearty ribbiting. He remembers and smiles to himself.MAX (affectionately) Frogs. 09/19/2005 23a.41 42 13 09/19/2005 24. Max keeps scrubbing, enjoying the moment more than even he knows... fica INT, CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - STAIRWELL - MORNING 41 Sunlight streams through a window. Max appears at the top of the stairs, in his uncle’s weathered bathrobe; barefoot. He yawns, squints at the daylight. INT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - KITCHEN 42 an opened refrigerator offers Max little. He scours in particular for one item, without luck: MAX Coffee, coffee, coffee... Shite. Max, breakfast under his arm: a litre of milk and a hunk of cheese. ..shuffles towards the door as... ~~ MADAME DUFLOT entezs, stout in purple sweats and a bird's nest of orange hair, carrying a vacuum cleaner and bucket. MAX Madame Duflot . MADAME DUFLOT Ah, Maxie, Maxie, Maxie! She kisses him three times on the cheeks. Ruffles his hair. Takes him in. He has grown since she last saw him... Madame Duflot proceeds begins to playful scold Max -- for assuming she would not bring him breakfast, for wearing that bathrobe when there’s a perfectly good one she laid out for him, for drinking milk out of the bottle, etcetera, etcetera. She snaps the milk and cheese out of his hands and shoos him outside. Max doesn’t understand a word. MADAME DUFLOT (shooing him out) Attendez dans le jardin! Je vous apporte le petit dejeuner! (Mr. Max, go to the garden! I will bring his breakfast!) EXT. GARDEN - AT THE CHESS TABLE - MOMENTS LATER 43 Max sits in the garden, beneath the trellis, tapping away on his Treo, Suddenly, he’s startled by -- SLAM! -- Madame * Duflot drops a tray of breakfast on the table.09/19/2005 25. MADAME DUFLOT Bon appetit. Coffee. Croissants. Jam. Butter. Then, she marches back into the house, muttering to herself in French. Max takes a sip of coffee. That’s great coffee. Dips the croissant in jam. Delicious. The moment is perfect. Magic! RING-VIBRATE! His Treo goes off. MAX Morning, Gemma. GEMMA (0.8.) Enjoying yoursel£? MAX As bereavements go? 44 INT. LAWTON BROTHERS OFFICE - DAY 44 GEMMA This’ll cheer you up. You've been busted. Morning FT. Headline. “LAWTON BOND TRADE UNDER INVESTIGATION." MAX (0.8.) what? GEMMA (reading) “The FSA today launched an official inguiry into recent Lawton Brothers trade activity...* MAX (0.S.) Relax...I already cleared the deal through legal. They gave me the go ahead. This is just a PR show to assuage Lustig Bank. GEMMA Pepper doesn’t think so. Max stops dead. max _(0.8.) (ripple of fear) Nigel?09/19/2005 GEMMA Siz Nigel. He wants a sit down with you. 5 o’clock this afternoon. MAX (0.8.) (because that means this is serious) What time’s my meeting with the notaire? GEMMA, A little over an hour from now. Max (0.8.) My time or your time? Gemma shakes her head. Oh shit, she forgot. GEMMA Cops. OMITTED EXT. BASTIDE - DRIVEWAY - LATER Max pulls on his jacket and climbs into the Smart Car, rings, it’s Charlie. CHARLIE (0.8.) So how's La Maison? Ta it smashing? MAX (eyeing it) To be honest, Charlie, it’s a little bit shabby. EXT. LONDON TOWNHOUSE - pay 26. 45 46 Phone 47 Charlie has stepped outside from an open house to call Max. CHARLIE We don’t say shabby, Max. We say “filled with the patina of a bygone era." What about the plonk?09/19/2005 26a. MAX (0.8.) Bouquet of wet dog. Hits the palate like a razor blade, with the finishing hints of awful.4a 09/19/2005 27, CHARLIE One thing we're going to need for sure is an cenologue. ‘Test the vines, take soil samples, things of that sort. Ask around, there must be a couple not far from you. Ooh -- and few sexy snaps wouldn't hurt either...you know, to get the punters clamoring... ON THE SAME ROAD - FAR AHEAD OF MAX 48 FANNY, 30s, the most. beautiful woman in Provence, is cycling along -- leather jacket, skirt hitched up and blissfully unaware of the Englishman hurtling up the road. INSIDE MAX'S SMART CAR CHARLIE (0.$.) There's an e-mail address to send them to... Max holds his PALM ONE TREO in front of him, switches it the an e-mail screen... MAX Okay. Shoot. CHARLIE PROVENCELISTINGS@BROADBENTPROPERTIE S.ENG On his lap, Max starts typing the address into his Treo. Pumbles it into the opposite footwell. MAX Hold on. Shite. Through the windscreen, Fanny appears ahead... She spots Max's car speeding toward her. She swerves to avoid it...and flies off the road and into an irrigation ditch. INSIDE SMART CAR Max grabs the Treo and finishes entering the address, oblivious to everything.09/19/2005 27~. 30 OMTTTED fe52 53 EXT, VILLAGE STREET - DAY 51 09/19/2005 28. Max parks his Smart Car in the square. The town is a little gem, However, Max doesn’t notice a thing...he heads straight to the Notaire’s office... INT. NOTAIRE’S OFFICE - RECEPTION - MORNING 52 Max enters. Up front, a waiting area is filled with a thick Cloud of cigarette smoke. The SHCRETAIRE sits behind a desk, chain smoking. In back, a closed door leads to Maitre Auzet’s office. RECEPTIONIST Qui? MAX Auzet? TNT. NOTAIRE’S OFFICE - DAY 53 A pair of shapely tattooed ankles. PAN UP. NATHALIE AUZET, 40s, attractively austere: grey suit, glasses, Louise Brooks bobeut. She sits behind her desk, downloading him... NATHALTE You see Monsieur, most wine-making regions in Prance exist through an arrangement known as metayage... (noticing he’s fixating on her tatoos) Mr. Skinner? MAX Hoorn? (snaps out) Sorry. Max signs the paperwork in front of him. * NATHALIE In the arrangement, the vigneron makes the wine, the estate owner maintains the property. C’est simple. The proceeds of the wine axe then shared equally. This is hew your uncle and Monsieur Duflot worked for over thirty years. Naturally Monsieur Duflot will be anxious as to your intentions.09/19/2005 29. MAX (businesslike) i can speed this all up. I have no plans to become a vintner. NATHALIE Bon, let Monsieur Duflot make the wine, and you enjey the estate on the weekends. MAX I don’t think you quite understand, Ms. Auzet. My life-is in London. And I don't do weekends. I plan on Selling La Siroque as soon as possible. She looks up. Removes her glasses. NATHALIE Henri would approve of this? Max smiles a little to himself. MAX Tell me, how well did you know my Uncle? Auzet gives a tiny cough. Max smirks to himself. He thought 50. MAX So then...as you know...the chateau was Uncle Henry's passion. But it’s not mine, I’m sure he would understand. NATHALIE And what of Monsieur Duflot? He and his wife have been on the estate for thirty years. If not dealt with properly, you could be -- how do you say -- caught between a “rock and a stone?” MAX Charming... But I fail to see the complications.:. I can assure you, upon settlement, I will be very generous with Mr. Duflot...as always in a case such as is, it’s just a matter of finding the right number... (More)09/19/2005 29a. MAX (cont 'd) (shifting) Now on an entirely different note, I wonder if you might help me find an. . .cenologue?54 36 09/19/2005 30. AUZET On this, I will have to get back to you, MAX In that case, if there’s nothing else, I've got a plane to catch... Max grabs the paperwork, gets up and heads for the door. max Thank you again, Ms. Auzet. Under normal circumstances I'd have asked you to lunch, Your tattoos alone beg a thousand questions. AUZET But for you Mr. Skinner, the answer will always be the same. INT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - BEDROOM - DAY 54 Max hurriedly packs his carry-on, pauses to consider taking the photograph of himself and Uncle Henry stomping grapes. OMITTED 55 EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - FRONT - DAY 56 packet on, Max exits, briefcase in hand. Duflot is waiting for him, blocking the path to his car. DUFLOT You are selling La Siroque? There has been a mistake, I think. MAX News travels fast. He moves toward his car. DUFLOT But your uncle. He meant for you to have it, not sell it. MAX If he meant that, he might have taken the time to say so in a proper will. But he didn’t.o9/19/2005 31. DUFLOT You know, Henri was not English the way you are! He was a man of secrets, Aman of passions. He did not write things down. Por a moment, this resonates with Max. Max opens the door and chucks his attache onto the front seat, DUFLOT You would take me away from my vines?! MAX They‘re my vines, Duflot. DUFLOT I live in them! I breathe in them! They tear my hands! MAX Listen, Duflot... (gentle touch) Francis. When I’ve sold the Property, I intend to make you a handsome settlement... DUFLOT Money?! You think it’s money that T want?! Max is truly baffled. DUFLOT Do you know what it ie, monsieur, to love something more than your own life? To submit your days and nights to the fickle will of nature? I haven't but a handful of vintages left. Soon, my body and spirit will be defeated by the terroir. And you would dare come here and take away my last few chances of immortality!? Max is now in the car. He pauses, reflecting, Closes the door, MAX Afraid so. He starts the car.08/19/2005 31a. MAX 1/11 be in touch.09/19/2005 32, DUFLOT (calls out after him) This is not over! No! Ou ona la terre, on a la guerre! (Where there is land, there is war.) He stomps away into the fields as Max starts the car. His PHONE RING-VIBRATES as he pulls out. He answers; MAX Leaving now. GEMMA (0.8.) Good. Sir Nigel is making a special trip. Everything all right? MAX No, it was just... Nothing. GEMMA (0.8.) Did you get the photos for Charlie? MAX Dammit! Max hangs up, slams on the brakes, EXT, CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - GARDEN - DAY 87 The heavy frame of the front door. CLICK. A panorama of the vineyard. CLICK. The tennis court. CLICK. Max levels. his Treo (which serves as a digital camera too) for a shot of the house from the garden, but he’s too close, He circles the perimeter of the pool to line it up again when his phone RINGS AGAIN. MAX What?! GEMMA (0.3.) Get in the car! MAX (re: his camera-phone) Get off my camera, Gemma! He ‘bangs up and steps up on the diving board to line up a shot. “He walks out farther on the board to get. a better angle, then -- CLICK! CRACK! ‘THE DIVING BOARD SNAPS. HIS PHONE GOES FLYING.09/19/2005 32a. Max plummets from sight. WE PUSH DOWN TO DISCOVER --58 09/19/2005 33, IN THE POOL - Max rolls over on mud and leaves, wincing, gets to his feet. Realizing he’s okay, he laughs at himsel® and shakes off the pain. As he looks around, his face drops. No shallow end. smooth steep walls. Max leaps for the lip of the pool. Misses by inches. ‘Tries again. No dice. Stuck. Muddy. Propping the broken diving board against the wall he precariously edges up it, as he reaches for the top -- SLAP! His makeshift ramp skids from under him, sending him flying. Defeated, festooned in mud, his cell phone is RING-VIBRATING: moving it closer to the edge of the pool. MAK Oh, please -- come to papa. INT. LAWTON BROTHERS OFFICE - DAY 58 Through glass walls of the boardroom, Gemma watches Sir Nigel Pepper, a 50-something silverback barrow boy in Armani. Arriving. She catches his eye, Smiles. He flexes his jaw. Genma dials fast. GEMMA, (into phone) Where are you, you tosser? EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - IN THE POOL 59 Max POV: The phone rings vibrating/moving. Out of sight. MAX Aaargh! Call back! c'mon Gemma! EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY 60 Fanny chugs along in her 2cv, mangled bike on the top. Passing Chateau La Sirogue, she clocks a lime-green Smart Car in the drive. skids to a halt. EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - A BIT LATER 61 Fanny raps on the front door. Pissed. Waits. No response. Distant expletives coming from the back08/19/2005 33a, EXT. CHATEAU LA STROQUE - GARDEN 62 Fanny circles the house, tracing Max's voice. To the pool.09/19/2005 34. WHERE SHE FINDS a mud-caked Neanderthal, busily constructing a ramp out of mud and a broken diving board.. He retreats, muttering, then with all his might sprints at the construction, bellowing, Plants one foot upon it, pulverizing it. He barks his shoulder on the wall and lands, submerged in the gunk. He spots he is not alone. MAX Hello. FANNY Qu’est-ce que vous faites? MAX It’s okay. I’m the pool man, 1 always do this on Thursdays... dust routine maintenance. FANNY ah. You are a ‘ros beef? MAX Oui. Anglais, stupide. A soft breeze flutters her dress, and Max covertly moves to get a peek of her shapely legs MAX This is all rather wonderful chatting like this...and you are a vision, but...any chance of a rope of a ladder? FANNY Is that your car out front? max Yes, sorry -- I am temporarily the custodian of the lime-green rollerskate. It’s a hired car. Not for sale. Sorry. Look, I’m in ahole. Literally. and I want to get out. FANNY Can you swim? MAX Not in a foot of shit.09/19/2005 34a. FANNY Bon. She disappears from his view.2a 09/19/2005 35, MAX (To himself) Hello? ‘Allo? After a few moments wondering, Max hears a gurgling rumble. inquisitive, he stares at the spout. Bugs begin to leap out frantically. Just in time he moves -- a TORRENTIAL FLOOD OF WATER bursts from a spout along the inside of the pool. Max dodges as he realizes: Fanny has turned on the valve pump. Misses the second exploding spout, The third hits him the shoulder, which turns his face in the fourth. The force sends him horizontal into the mud. MAX Holy crap! MAX IS GIVEN A FOUR-WAY YELLOW CHLORINE ENEMA. HE FIGHTS TO STAY ALIVE, EXT. LONDON AIRPORT 62R Max’s DRIVER stands as the last “arrival” passengers dribble out...He dials his cell phone. cor To: INT. LAWTON BROTHERS OFFICE 623 GEMMA (in command) Right. Right. Roger that. FOV Gemma. Glamorous board room, Sir Nigel Pepper is sitting in the boardroom waiting with the Financial Times. Gemma approaches gingerly and enters. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. POOL - LATER 63 Water up to Max’s elbows. He carefully takes off his watch while holding his shoes out of the water. after putting his watch inside, Max throws his shoes up above, saving them almost certain ruin. Up above, hie cellphone ring vibrates again: caught on a slight rise‘in the pool's lip. MAX Yes, Gemma, I know, I know. cur TO:09/18/2005 35a. LATER, and the sun is dipping in the sky. Max is on his bank now, floating on the water. His mood has shifted, He stares into the pinwheel of colors in the sky.65 66 67 09/19/2005 36. MAX ‘Why do you like the desert, Colonel Lawrence?’ (in flawless O'Toole) ‘I like it because it’s clean.’ cur To; DESERTED POOL. No Max. Has he drowned? suddenly, from the 65 depths, Max launches: reaching full stretch.. he misses the lip by a centimeter. Dives down, launches again: got it! His fingers strain and he hauls, ravaged and soaking but free. INT. LONDON TAXI - DUSK 66 Ring... Gemma picks up the phone. GEMMA, You better be in prison MAX (0.8.) Tell him I’m sorry, I can explain. GEMMA, Sorry’s no good. He's gone. off on one of hig retreats for a week. INT./EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - BACK TERRACE DOOR - NIGHT 67 Max, dripping, stripping off his wet things. MAX Shit. When's the first flight out tomorrow. ..? GEMMA (0.5.) Max, there’s no rush anymore. The jast thing Sir Nigel did on his way out was suspend you ‘til he gets back. MAX What?! GEMMA (0.S.) Max. He was really angry. You've made him a lot of enemies, Max, Why didn’t you pick up the phone? Max's face goes white.69 69R, 09/19/2005 37, MAK What does he expect me to do for a week? GEMMA (0.S.) Take a holiday. MAX Christ he didn’t say that did he? GEMMA (0.s.) No, I just did. MAX If anyone calls, do not tell them I’m on holiday!’ That’s worse than dying. Suspended or not, I’m not gonna stop trading! PULL BACK TO REVEAL. Max, in his underpants, standing in a puddle, surveying his vineyard, Armani in a’ sodden heap. INT. CHATEAU LA STROQUE - BEDROOM - NIGHT 68 Oe che XG$,2 Couple of sleeping pills. He opens the window. On the sill, he notices a heap of moldy lavender sitting in a cheap plastic dish. It looks disgusting. He makes face and tosses it into the trash. Gets into bed. THREE HOURS LATER Max is sitting up in bed. very much not sleeping. The frogs cutelde are in fine voice. Ribbit-ribbit, ribbitoribore, MAX Frogs... EXT. CHATEAU LA SIROQUE - EARLY MORNING 69 The vineyard at daybreak. INT. KITCHEN - SAME 69a Madame Duflot is dutifully washing max’s suit by hand, suds and all. Pulls it out. Rings it out.70K, 70B 0c 1 99/19/2005 38. INT. UNCLE HENRY'S BEDROOM - LATER 70 Max's eyes slowly flutter open. He gets up and walks to the shutters, but when he throws them open, a FRENZIED SWARM of scorpions EXPLODES from the sill! MAX Holy shit! INT. STATRWELL - SAME TOR Madame Duflot is climbing the steps with Max’s pressed suit when she hears his screams. She rushes up... INT. UNCLE HENRY’S BEDROOM - SAME 70B Max grabs a shoe and frantically pounds anything that moves. Madame Duflot bursts in and sees the scorpions. She uses the suit to help him kill the bugs MADAME DUFLOT Lavande Lavande!? Madame Duflot joing in, and thrashes the scorpions with Max's newly-cleaned suit. Then, she fishes the plastic dish of moldy lavender out of the trash...and pompously waves in front of Max’s face. MADAME DUFLOT. Lavande! She firmly places it back on the window sill. INT. UNCLE HENRY’S BEDROOM - LATER 70C Max digs through Uncle Henry’s clothes closet. It's filled an assortment of styles, spanning the decades. INT. KITCHEN - MORNING na Max enters. He's wearing an unoffending pair of his Uncle’s trousers (loose waist, cuffs under his heels, school tie as a belt), Rummages through the fridge. Grabs a day-old croissant. Cup of coffee. CHARLIE’S VOICE (0.8.) Back in blighty mon ami?...ne 71 mp 09/19/2005 39. INT. HALLWAY - MORNING 741A Max, On the phone, eats. Intercut with Charlie (in London) as Max wanders around the house, MAX On the contrary, Charlie, I’ve decided to stay for a couple of days. You know, smell the lavender and relax. INT. BASEMENT FLAT IN FULHAM - SAME 713 Charlie stands in his kitchen in a paisley dressing gown, Scooping Nescafe trom a jumbo-sized tin. ‘The Financial Times sits on his counter, CHARLIE “Relax?l* So it is true. You are getting sacked! MAX I’m not getting sacked, Charlie. I’m...exploring options with a view to realizing the full potential of ny inheritance. CHARLIE’S VOICE In that case, how long before your inheritance is ready to view? INT. TOP CORRIDOR - MORNING ne Max sees two chickens strutting about. sees a Patch in the ceiling that needs a major repair. MAK It's cosmetic stuff mostly. gust needs a scrub and a coat of paint. So shall we say, first viewing’s in two or three days...? INT. LIVING ROOM - saME 7D Max stops. Three days? Shit. He pulle at the flimsy curtains. It showers him with dust, dead wasps, etc. CHARLIE You sure?T1E 72 aR 09/19/2005 40. MAX No problem at all, Charlie. Nax wanders down the hall and opens the cellar door... INT. CELLAR STAIRCASE - SAME 71e MAX Oh. One last thing. The wine they make here... It is not, repeat not first class. CHARLIE’ S VOICE How bad can it be? Max rummaging through bottles on dusty shelves. MAX Just gives you a blinding headache and makes you angry. Best make sure the buyers don’t know shite about wine. CHARLIE’ $ VOICE Not a problem, old chap. Just make sure she’s match fit in 72 hours. Max examines with interest bottles labelled with grease pencil: Le Coin Perdu. INT. GARAGE - DAY 72 In a messy garage, Max digs among the junk. A few old paintpots. Murky turps. “Finally he locates a paintbrush, sitting ina tin of paint. Max jerks the brush out, seeing it’s stuck in a chunk of congealed paint. He grabs the turpentine and drops the paintbrush in it,..then, spies a tire sticking out from beneath a sheet... Max crosses the garage and whips off the sheet, revealing a fixe truck red Heritage Springer. MAX You dirty old bugger. EXT. DRIVEWAY - LATER 728 Max inspects the bike. Checks for oil and gas, drive shaft, Tries to turn it over, it won’t start. Battery’s gone flat. He heads to the garage for an extension cord...to recharge.720 09/19/2005 41. INT. GARAGE - SECONDS LATER 728 Max passes the turpentine...and discovers his paintbrush is gone. MAX What the hell..? EXT. OUTSIDE LE CAVE - DAY 72 Duflot sits in the sunshine, leisurely sharing his lunch with Tati. On his head, a traditional black beret. Max approaches, game-face on. ‘There, on the ground beneath his feet. The paintbrush. MAX The paintbrush. I was about to use it. “You took it. why? DUFLOT C’est moi. It is my paintbrush. Silence. MAX That‘s the only paintbrush in the house. DUFLOT There is a hardware store in apt. They sell paintbrushes. (sips his coffee.) But, voila, it is closed today. Max refuses to be beaten. Gets his wallet out. MAX Ok. This is fun, 1/11 give you...20 Euros for it. Duflot doesn’t react, MAX No? Fifty. (No reaction) Fine. I'll give you a hundred euros for the brush. Impasse. Duflot munches hie breakfast.09/19/2005 41a, MAX (leveling) What do you want, Duflot? Duflot stands.mon 09/19/2005 42. DUPLOT When you sell I stay vigneron, T keep my vines. Une contracte. Max doesn’t blink. He regards his opponent. MAX You want to stay with your vines? Fine. You help me fix up the place. Do the gardens, paint the house, help me with the pool. 72 hours of hard labor. You help me construct this lie, and I -- if at all possible -- will attempt to convince the new owner of the worth and value of your services and your immortal harvests. Stares at Max. Studies him. Duflot spits into his palm, and extends it to shake. DUPLOT A Frenchman's hand is his word. Max spits a bigger hock into his own palm. MAX An Englishman’s word is his bond. They shake, spit merging. DUFLOT Concorde. MAK Deal. Max walks off...wiping the spit on his pant leg... MAX Frog Tosspot. DUFLOT Bnglish prick. BEGIN REPAIR MONTAGE EXT, BASTIDE - BACK GARDEN - NEXT MORNING TaD Cigarette dangling from his mouth, Duflot is pruning an overgrown hedge with a vine sickle.09/19/2005 42a A broken chair comes flying out of a top window, crashing to the ground, just missing him. Max sticks his head out, holding back a smile.12F Re 72H 721 09/29/2005 43. EXT, POOL - NEXT MORNING 728 Duflot, up to his shins in slime, scoops up leaves and mud, and dumps them into a bucket. Madame Duflot pulls the bucket by rope, and unloads the crap into a wheelbarrow. PAPA DUFLOT, 80’s, watches this procedure, sommambulant. INT. HENRY’S BEDROOM - DAY T2F Max shoves the heavy bed across the floor to cover a huge moldy patch. Behind it ke finds a single stiletto shoe. He smiles. Places it on the mantel as if it was a museum piece. INT. SERVANTS QUARTERS - LATER RG ‘he walls are exposed with old, rickety wood. ants are crawling everywhere. Max sprays with insecticide. INT. CORRIDOR - DAY 12H Max is throwing a load of broken tennis rackets into black sacks. He pulls the basket they were in away from the wall. He stops. On the wall belind them is painted cricket stumps. MAX (softly) ‘Oh wow. FLASHBACK - RAINY DAY 7a Young Max comes running down the corridor to bowl, releasing the ball and clearing a wall shelf of about five vases, halfway down the corridor. They SMASH to the ground. Henry, smoking, is padded up in full cricket whites at the other end in front of the stumps. UNCLE HENRY (oud; calmly) Wide... THE PRESENT. Max does a perfect “D.K. lillee off-cutter.” Hits the center stump. MAX Howz that!73 09/19/2005 44. INT. TOP OF STAIRCASE - DAY 12a Max, balancing precariously on a step ladder, is busy rolling whitewash over crumbling, damp plaster. Duflot passes below him. DUFLOT Tt will not last a month MAX That's someone else’s problem. He slaps on another coat. MADAME DUFLOT (0.8.) Monsieur Max! ‘MAX'S POV - DOWN THE AIRSHAFT Madame Duflot stares up, looking uneasy. MADAME DUFLOT There is...a person, MAX A person? MADAME DUFLOT (motioning) At the door. INT. CHATEAU LE SIROQUE - ENTRYWAY 73 Max opens the front door. Standing there: a pretty BLONDE GIRL, 21, with a backpack. She’s wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a San Francisco Giants baseball hat. BLONDE GIRL (perfect French) Bonjour. Je recherche le propriétaire du domaine. (Good morning. I am looking for the owner of the estate.) She smiles, flashing her blindingly white teeth. MAX The only country that issues teeth like that is America.09/19/2005 44a, BLONDE GIRL Oh, you speak English? MAX Like a native.09/19/2005 45. BLONDE GIRL My name’s Christie Roberts looking for Mr. Skinner. MAX And you have found him. CHRISTIE (chuckles) Impossible, you're way too young. MAX (sexual innuendo) Funny, I was just thinking the same about you. CHRISTIE I meant too young to be my Dad. Henry Skinner’s my father. Clearly off of Max’s doubt and mistrust, Christie fishes into her knapsack, unearths a photo, and hands it to Max-- INSERT - PHOTO ON GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE A late 50’s Uncle Henry poses with Christie's Mother, 20's, gorgeous, who wears a sexy, Jennifer Beals, hang-off-the- shoulder sweatshirt. MADAME DUFLOT (0.S.) She has Henri’s nose! Max turns -- Madame Duflot is locking over his shoulder at the photo. Max steps out onto the landing, closes the door behind him, shutting off Madame Duflot. MAX That’s your Mum? CHRISTIE (proudly) In all her Flashdance-glory... (excited) So is he around? Max stops...only now does he realize she doeen’t know. MAX You don’t know? CHRISTIE Know what?” 09/19/2005 46. MAX oh. Right. (pinches his nose) Uh, Look. He sighs, looks at her for some time. MAX Sorry I’ve forgotten your name CHRISTIE It's Christie, MAX Christie. Look Christie. CHRISTIE Oh my God. He’s dead, isn’t he? Max stops. Slightly impressed at her intuition. MAX A month ago. Christie is crestfallen. Eyes welling up. MAK Cup of tea? EXT, BASTIDE - MINUTES LATER 14 Christie site at the chess table, recovering. PAN WITH MAX as he emerges from the house with two cups of tea and a few sandwiches. MAX So... California? CHRISTIE (sadly) Mom was a tour guide in Napa Valley. That’s where she met Henry. He took the tour one day and charmed her pants off. Literally. (MORE)09/19/2005 47. CHRISTIE (cont'd) By the time she realized she was pregnant, Henry was long gone...s0 she never told him...then waited until last week -- my 21st birthday -~ to come clean with me. (sighs) Totally unbelievable...to come this far only to find out he’s...gone. As Christie's eyes well up again-- MAX I think 1/11 get something stronger. 15 EXT. MAX’S POV FROM ABOVE - MINUTES LATER 75 Christie sits alone, sipping a Campari, eating a sandwich. 758A INT. UNCLE HENRY’S STUDY - TERRCAE - SAME 75h, Max spies on her from above, on his cellphone, quietly conspiring with Charlie in London. CHARLIE (0.8.) This is more than a wrinkle, Max. What if the girl turns out to be legit? MAX She bowls up a couple of weeks after he carks it? It’s too sweet Charlie. I’m not buying it. CHARLIE You need some legal advice, mate. And you need it fast, before the little nymph cuts loose and makes a mess of Chateau Skinner. 76 EX, BASTIDE - CHESS TABLE - MINUTES LATER 16 Max rejoins Christie, who's admixing the estate... MAX Qooks at watch) Listen, Christie, I’ve just got to pop into town. She stuffs the rest of the sandwich in her mouth.09/19/2005 47~. CHRISTIE (gamely; standing) No prob. T booked a youth hostel in town...just in case the old man was schitzo. (MORB)7 09/19/2005 48. CHRISTIE (cont'd) You mind dropping me? I/ve really gotta get out of these clothes. MAX Why not get out of your clothes here? We've got tons of space Rooms to spare. Clean up. Have yourself a shower. I'l] be back in no time... (loud) Madame Dulfot! A guest! CHRISTIE Wow, you sure? MAX Of course. Max flashes a deliciously fake grin,as Madame Duflot charges out to take care of Christie. INT. MAITRE AUZET'S OFFICE - A BIT LATER 17 Max paces the office, apoplectic. Auzet sits behind her desk, studying the photo of Henry and Christie's Mom. Max But she never even met my Uncle! * AUZET Under French Law, there is no difference between legitimate and illegitimate children when it comes to their right to inherit. In theory, the girl would be entitled to sole ownership of the estate. MAX Ridiculous! She could be an imposter. AUZET That is precisely why she would be required to produce some form of documentation -- a photo or even correspondence. If this is deemed sufficient evidence, a DNA test would then be ordered to establish paternity. MAX Dig the old boy up?! Bollocks you will!78 08/19/2005 49. AUZET Mr. Skinner, your Uncle Henri was cremated. MAX (off the hook; relieved) That’s right... Great. AUZET However...viable samples can be obtained from an old hairbrush, or even a licked stamp. MAX (acheming) Suppose I was to sell the Place...before she filed a claim? AUZET Legally, she could invalidate a sale, even after the transfer of title. (Max, at wits end) But this is all assuming the girl wishes to make a claim. Perhaps her intentions are harmless? My advice is to treat her with the utmost respect and hope she’ll be on her way... French courts have a way of favoring the lesser dog; don’t make her one. MAX Courts? EXT, MAIN STREET - DAY 78 Max walks back to the Smart Car, he pulls out into the main street. The streets bustle with foot and bike traffic. Max stops and starts. Gets stuck on a narrow street. Through the half obscured windscreen he spots Fanny as she walks practically over him carrying a tray. She serves a table, then crosses back behind him to serve some tables across the street. MAX Hell-bitch MOVING WITH FANNY rs +e09/19/2005 49an. As she breezes back inside the restaurant car horns honk behind Max and he has to move on. MOVING WITH MAX09/19/2005 49a As he parks his midget car in the worlds smallest space. He jogs back to her restaurant. No sign of her. Then...she emerges, carrying a tray and water jug. Max puffs up his chest and marches toward her. MAX Joan of Arc She turns, An iridescent Provencal beauty. He's bowled over. FANNY Ah Jacques Cousteau,79 09/19/2005 50. She walks straight past him, almost pushing him out the way. MAX You tried to drown me. FANNY And you tried to run me over with your little car! MAX What are you talking about do you mean I tried to run you over? What FANNY Down the road from La Sirogue! You were driving your midget Car on your phone -~ and, I believe, had your head stuck very far up your ass! Look at the damage you have caused me... 1 She pivote and YANKS UP HER SKIRT on one aide, revealing; an ENORMOUS BLACK-AND-BLUE BRUISE adorning the most gorgeous cheek since Eve. Max is a deer caught in headlights, along with the rest of the male patrons of the cafe. FANNY (skirt down, at him again) Faites attention fou! You try to kill me, I try to kill you. gh bien, c'est fini, She turns on her heel and marches back inside, unaware that her skirt is stuck in her underwear. Max watches her, transfixed. A small car crashes gently into a car in front. MAX My God. She’s fantastic. EXT. GARDEN - LATER 79 Max stares at the pool which is crystal clear now, half- filled, water shimmering. Papa Duflot calmly skims the pool. Beyond him, Max sees Duflot, wearing a white visor, on higher ground, pulling a roller on the tennis court. Thinga are looking good. CHRISTIE (0.8,) Hey Max! Max looks up.81-84 09/19/2005 51. MAX’S POV - THIRD FLOOR 80 Christie hangs out the window. Hair wet, barely clothed, she must have just gotten out of the shower. CHRISTIE (earnest) Max, I can’t thank you enough for inviting me to stay... Look at the * view, it’s like Cezanne country! * MAX (dryly) it is Cezanne country. * Christie notices a dish of moldy lavender on the sill. * Gross. She tosses it out the window. * HARD CUT TO: OMITTED 81-84 EXT. TENNIS COURT - MINUTES LATER 85 The court's locking good. Duflot huffs and puffs with the roller. Max reflexively picks up an old brush and whisks the dust off the ancient plastic lines. MAX (cool) a Duflot...? This afternoon. . town...there was a-- DUFLOT Her name is Fanny Chenal. Max is stunned. How does Duflot even know what he’s talking about? Max continues to brush. Duflot continues to roll on the other side...at a distance. DUFLOT Many times I have seen this same * look on your Uncle’s face. * Max is impressed by Dulfot’s insight. DUPLOT * But you deserve special credit. *09/19/2005 Siaa. oh? why?09/19/2005 sia. DUFLOT You are now the town hero for making her show her derriere. MAX Bloody hell, news travels fast. Dulfot carries on rolling.99/19/2005 52. Now Max is rifling through an old box that has croquet * mallets and tennis rackets in it. Max comes forward with two ancient racquets, and balls. He stops in his tracks, as a * memory has come flooding back to him. * MAX * She grew up here, didn’t she? * DUFLOT * Who? * MAX * Fanny. * DUFLOT * I believe so, yes. * MAX Is she...er...otherwise spoken for? * Duflot is now winding up the net. Max places the racket against the net measuring the height, motioning when to stop. DUFLOT She was. Once! A football player * for Lyon. He was shit...just like * his left foot. And treated her badly. Since then, it is rumored that she will let no man near her heart. They are now facing each other across the net... DUFLOT Max, recall what Proust said: ‘Leave pretty women to men without imagination.’ MAX I’m a banker, Duflot. I have no imagination. Max lobs a racket to Duflot, which Duflot catches. Max points to his shirt. Fred Perry insignia. MAX Fred Perry. Duflot smiles like a crocodile and tips his white visor. * DUELOT Henri Lacoste.87 09/19/2005 52a. OMITTED 86 HARD COT TO: TENNIS COURT - WIDE SHOT a7 Max and Duflot face off at opposite ends of the court. The game begins. We witness a strenuous, comical, violent, dangerous, xenophobic game of tennis, culminating in Max's match point.88 ag 90 09/19/2005 53. MAX Match point, mate. Duflot silent, awaiting the serve. THWACK! Max delivers an ace, leaving Duflot standing. They stare in silence. Max and Duflot appraise each other -- do we detect a moment of camaraderie? The moment is broken by Papa’s slow hand-clap. DUFLOT Bon, Duflot walks off, with a sharp command- DUFLOT PAPAL TATI! All follow, leaving Max, sweaty, bloody, and enjoying the moment . INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT a8 Max showers off. MADAME DUFLOT MONSIEUR MAX! (Max is startled by a dinner gong) Diner! OMITTED 89 INT, DINING ROOM - MINUTES LATER 30 Max enters and finds a table set for two, shimmering beneath candlelight. A Billie Holiday record plays. MAX Madame Duflot, she's my cousin. (backpedal ing) Maybe. MADAME DUFLOT Ach! Half the aristocrats in France have liaisons with their cousins! Madame Duflot leaves for the day. A gnarly meal awaite Max: congealed foie gras, cold escargot, and worst of all -- an opened bottle of La Siroque wine.09/19/2005 53a. INT. WINE CAVE - EVENING 92 Max scans the rack of wine...so many choices. Nothing seems to strike his fancy...until he hones in on one of the unlabeled bottles of Le Coin Perdu. He snaps it up...91a 09/19/2005 54. UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE Pest... Max-a-million. Up here. MAX'S POV - ABOVE HIN A ladder leads up to some scaffolding, which runs along the tops of the three cement vats that ferment the wine. WE ARE NOW IN A FLASHBACK, MAX CLIMBS UP THE LADDER, 91a FOLLOWING RIGHT BEHIND HIS YOUNGER SELF... HE WATCHES YOUNG MAX TAKE HIS PLACE NEXT TO UNCLE HENRY, WHO STANDS, ARMS AKIMBO, STARING DOWN INTO THE MACERATING VAT OF WINE... UNCLE HENRY WEARS A STRAW HAT, WITH A RING OF BURNING CANDLES ATTACHED TO IT. THE PLICKERING, FIERY GLOW OSCILLATES THROUGHOUT THE CAVE. UNCLE HENRY Tell me Max, what do you see down there? YOUNG MAX'S POV - INTO VAT Filled to the rim with bubbling, fermenting red wine. YOUNG MAK Fervere. UNCLE HENRY (confused) Are you speaking in tongues, boy? YOUNG MAX (confident) Fervere. It’s a Latin term. It means “to boil.” ‘The native yeasts in your cellar are converting the sugar inside the grapes to alcohol. The release of carbon dioxide gas is what causes the bubbling effect. UNCLE HENRY I must be suffering from dementia, I don’t recall ever having taught you that. YOUNG MAX You didn’t, That Duflot guy explained it to me.09/19/2005 54a. UNCLE HENRY Well done. Proves the adage that wisdom can be found in the most unlikely places. (MORE)09/19/2005 55. UNCLE HENRY (cont'd) To watch Duflot on bended knee, doing something as simple as weeding his soil... there’s a magnificent poetry in his devotion to each and every grape. Perhaps he‘ll inspire you to find devotion in what you do for a living someday? ‘YOUNG MAX I want be a professional poker player when I grow up. Or a comedian. UNCLE HENRY Max, ask me what the most important part of comedy is. YOUNG MAX What’s the most important part-- UNCLE HENRY (cutting in) -Timing. PRESENT. Max chuckles, as the reverie fades away. INT, BASTIDE - KITCHEN - MINUTES LATER Max enters. Christie is sitting at the dining room table, already stuffing her face with food. She's changed into comfy clothes -- boxer shorts, tank top, slippers. CHRISTIE (re: estate wine) Have you tasted Dad’s wine? MAX It's bloody awful. CHRISTIE So you know? MAX To be fair, I'm a cognac drinker by trade. 92 He pops the cork of the Le Coin. Pours himself and Christie a taster. Max takes a sip. MAX Not bad.09/19/2005 55aA. Christie swirls, sniffs, sips, trills, and swallows.09/19/2005 CHRISTIE Mmmm. Formidable... (tastes again) It's extraordinary. Like a Bordeaux... only velvet rather than wool... MAX Look who knows a thing or two about wine... SBA.09/19/2005 56. CHRISTIE In Napa, we're known to gargle and spit on occasion... She studies the bottle... as she checke out the food, close up. She the CHRISTIE Is this made here...on the estate? MAX Tf it’s good, it can’t be. grabs the Le Coin Perdu bottle and holds it up next to La Siroque bottle. ‘They are shaped differently. CHRISTIE Different bottles... (holds up the corks) Same corks... (tastes Le Coin) Completely different taste... A little mystery, isn’t it? MAX Yes, well, Henry was a bit of a mystery himself. CHRISTIE How so? MAX He loved England but lived in France. He loved women but never married. He loved adventure and yet all my memories of him are within a hundred steps of this very spot . CHRISTIE Are they good memories? MAX No... They're grand... (nostalgic) Henry used to say: “Max, there‘s nowhere else in the world where you can keep busy doing so little and enjoy it so much.” Max looks at his watch.99/19/2005 s6aa. MAX Listen Christie, I’ve just got to pop back into town.09/19/2005 56a. CHRISTIE Second time in one day. Sounds to me like you've found yourself a girl. Max smiles. She’s a sharp one. Christie scoops up a plate of food and absconds the bottle of Le Coin Perdu. CHRISTIE (xe: the bottle) For research... Bonsoir, cuz. MAX Bonsoir, Christie,93 94 95 09/19/2005 57. Christie heads upstairs. Max can’t help himself; hia eyes follow her ass. INT. CAR - MOVING - MINUTES LATER 93 On the phone with Charlie. CHARLIE (0.S.) Hello? MAX'S VOICE Quick question, mate: is it illegal to shag your own cousin? CHARLIE only if she’s ugly. EXT. TOWN SQUARE - NIGHT 94 Darkened doorway, Is Max smoking a cigarette? MOVE CLOSER. No, it’s a lollipop. He's lurking. MAX'S POV - ACROSS THE STREET The cafe. Max spies an overflow of people waiting outside. He tosses the lolly to the ground. EXT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - SANE 95 The place is packed and frantically busy. Fanny buzzes around the restaurant, placating diners who haven't received their entrees yet, then assuaging patrons who haven’t been seated yet... She has to brush past Max09/19/2008 58, MAX Your food must be terrific because the service is shite. She looks back. FANNY Please, monsieur, I am too busy to ignore you, MAX (as she passes) Where are all your waiters? FANNY Look, I have my hands full without fun and games with you, comprends? McDonald's is in Avignon. Cod and Chips in Marseille. She rushes back to a complaining diner, and Max can see: she's helplessly swamped. IN THE KITCHEN Fanny tries to keep up with her orders but her Cook’s Helper accidently drops a plate... CRASH! Merde! Fanny takes what's ready out to see -- THE DINING ROOM -~ Max, with his jacket off and shirtsleeves rolled up, taking orders from patrons. Of course, he doesn’t understand a word anyone's saying, but he doesn’t let that deter him. Fanny approaches: MAK Relax. I/ve done this before. FANNY Where? He stops. MAX I worked my way through University in London’s finest restaurants. A desperate chef rings a service bell and balances two beautifully presented confections on top of a bouef en croute. She has no choice. She grabs both plates and thrusts them into Max's hands.96 09/19/2005 59. FANNY, Okay, you can serve. But if there are any complaints, remember: in France, the customer is always wrong... Table six. And off they go, in different dizections, commencing: A MONTAGE of Max’s waiting tables. ‘Turns out he wasn’t lying. He's absolutely brilliant. His impression of a French waiter proves to be infallible, except for the slight shortcoming of his inability to speak the language. MAX (as one diner points to possible entrees) -non...non...non..,.oui, c/est magnifique (to another) ++-avee?...c’est tout?... AMERICAN MAN (clicks fingers) Garcon! We're ready to order! Max arrives to greet an AMERICAN COUPLE. AMERICAN MAN My wife’1l have the Nicoise salad, only she wants it with lo-cal Ranch dressing, and toss in some bacon bits and croutons. I'11 have the lamb chops. Well done. No butter Side of freedom fries Max snaps the menus from their hands. MAX McDonald's is in Avignon. Cod and Chips in Marseille. Fanny watches from afar, amused. INT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - LATER 96 The last customer has left, the restaurant relaid for tomorrow. Fanny divides the gratuity between her staff -- a pile for the cook’s helper, a pile for the busboy. Max is sitting outside, watching her. Employees file out, passing Max, complimenting his work. Thumbs up. Accolades. Panny comes out. es09/19/2005 60. FANNY, Here are your tips... Thank you for your help. You're fired. She moves off to stack chairs... MAX My vigneron says that you grew up here, in Gordes? FANNY Monsieur Duflot is mistaken. 1 only visited Gordes during the summers, with my mother. MAX You know, I spent all my summers here too. And I feel we may have met at some point? FANNY Tf we did, I hope I was unbearable. MAX Look, I know it’s late but I was thinking, maybe there was someplace I could spend ay hard-earned tips on a drink or two, to say sorry. (she looks at’ him, sternly) What? FANNY Are you asking me on a date? MAX No. No. dust a drink. I mean I'd like to prove I’m not just a maniac who goes around running people over. FANNY I’m not interested. MAX (laughing) Why not? FANNY Because I don’t like you. etek nee09/19/2005 60a. She goes back in. Max is impressed. Produces a half-bottle of leftover red wine from beneath the table, and decides to sit things out.09/19/2005 60a. EXT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - HOURS LATER - DARK 97 Max is patient. He waits outside for Fanny to finally close up. She emerges, surprised to see him, but also unable to suppress a smile. She heads to her car, which is parked on the street... MAX (calling out) Exactly what is it about me that you don’t like? FANNY ‘The fact that you asked. She gets in. Starts the car, then, lowers her window FANNY Saturday night. 8:00 at the Grand Chateau. Don’t be late. Max smiles...and watches her pull out. ates os988 09/19/2005 61. EXT. BASTIDE - NEXT MORNING 98 The estate looks like a Cezanne canvas: another gorgeous morning. Madame Duflot sweeps the courtyard. Suddenly, we HEAR Christie SCREAMING from her root CHRISTIE (0.S) Omigod! Help! Scorpione! Max charges into the room. MAK Lavande! Lavdande| Using his shoe, he stamps out the scorpions. He fishes out the lavender dish from her garbage and slams it on the window sill. MAX Lavandet INT. UNCLE HENRY’S STUDY - LATER 98a Max sits at his Uncle’s desk, carefully examining the estate’s accounting records, which are exceptionally neat, and all written in deep, green ink. Behind him, the record player spins a Harry Nilsson 45. Madame Duflot is on her knees, scouring the floor. Max throws some papers off the desk into a bin. He stops. He picks up a RED WATERMAN FOUNTAIN PEN and roils it in his palm. He unscrews the pot of green ink and smella it. He smiles. Remembering. FLASHBACK. Uncle Henry on the couch, glass of wine on hiseB stomach. At the desk is Young Max, gripping the SAME PEN, writing in Henry’s checkbook, forging his handwriting. YOUNG MAX Pay to the order of...Francois Hupert, plumber. UNCLE HENRY How much? ‘YOUNG MAX 87 francs, ‘UNCLE HENRY (sighs) Sign!09/19/2005 61a. Using Uncle Henry's real signature as a guide, Young Max flips it upside down, and copies the scrawl...09/19/2005 62. YOUNG MAX H-e-n-r-y...8-k-i-n-n-e-r, UNCLE HENRY Who else, who else...? YOUNG MAX (rummaging through bills) The mechanic? UNCLE HENRY (standing to pour wine) Not a sou to that grease monkey! The jag’s still coughing up like your Aunt Midge. Uncle Henry leans over admiring the young forger’s handiwork. UNCLE HENRY You're a genius Maximillian, You could be me. INT, UNCLE HENRY’S STUDY - PRESENT 99 Max puts the pen back, wistfully. MAX (whispers) You could be me. The next record drops, Needle hits the grooves. Edmundo Ross. A rumba, Madame Duflot starts to subtly swing to the music. From behind, it looks like the song is evoking an intense, emotional memory. MAX (catching her eye) Do you ever miss my Uncle, Madame Duflot? MADAME DUFLOT He was an excellent dancer, Max smiles. He thought so. MADAME DUFLOT Mx. Max? You will come to our home...manger...ce soir. MAX Oh, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Madame Duflot--100 09/19/2005 63. MADAME DUFLOT Bon, It is settled. I must prepare for your visite. Madame Duflot exits in a frantic rush EXT. VINEYARD - MORNING 100 Christie sips coffee and wanders the vineyard. She reaches a wall of brush that marks the end of the property-line. Then notices a small, arch-like opening...and walks through it, finding herself beneath a canopy of dense trees. She advances toward a burst of light that floods through the outlet on the other side of the grove... Christie finally emerges into the blinding whiteness. When her eyes adjust, she sees she’s standing on yet another hectare of vines. Oddly, these vines aren’t growing in dark soil, but are planted in gleaming white, limestone rocks. Tt’s otherworldly. She kneels, and scoops up a wilted bunch of embryonic grapes from the soil. Inspects them...as she strolls up to- A SMALL SHED Upon which a very old pony is tethered. Christie picka up some grass, which he feeds on, lazily. DUFLOT (0.8.) He is called. ..syrah. Christie turns. Duflot steps out of the vines. CHRISTIE (in flawless French) Named after a grape? How appropriate. DUFLOT Ah, vous parlez francais? Christie nods. He takes her hand. Now in English-- DUFLOT Francis Duflot, vigneron. CHRISTIE Christie Roberts, illegitimate daughter.09/19/2005 63a. Duflot studies the pretty, young girl’s face. The loss of Henry comes rushing back -- if only for a wounded moment...09/19/2005 64. DUFLOT The resemblance to Henry is unmistakable... (looks more closely) ‘The nose! Christie touches her nose, starting to get self-conscious. CHRISTIE You knew him well? DUFLOT (nodding) For twenty-three years I toiled side-by-side with your father. Even now... (points up to heaven; smiles) ++;he works from there... points to the soil) and I from here. She strokes the pony. DUFLOT Syrah was born the year I planted the vines...but now they are both sad and tired. CHRISTIE I’ve noticed. Many of them are withered... (glancing around) +. .except here. DUFLOT (re: the hectare) Ici? It is catastrophic! Nothing but rocks and grief. CHRISTIE (points; naively) They're limestones. They absorb sunlight, then radiate heat at night to keep the vines warm. Off his look of surprise. CHRISTIE (grinning disarmingly) I’m a wine brat. Spent my summers working at a vineyard in California.101 102 09/19/2005 65. DUFLOT They do not make wine in California, they make Hawaiian Punch. CHRISTIE Mondavi might argue that one. DUFLOT Perhaps Henry’s daughter would be interested in a personal tour of the vines? (puts his arm around her) Tf we are lucky, his spirit will join us... Touched, Christie assents. Still curious about the hectare, she motions into the limestone hectare, but Duflot gently tugs her back-- DUFLOT (in French) Suivez-moi, This way... Duflot guides her back through the brush...away from the hectare. She throws a backwards glance: why does she get the feeling he’s hiding something? INT. UNCLE HENRY’S BEDROOM - DUSK 101 Django Reinhart’s “Time on My Hands” spills from the house. EXI', VINEYARD - DUSK 102 Dressed in Henry’s best (70's-era flared pants), Max ambles through the vines, en route to Duflot's cottage. Along the way, he plucks some wild xoses from the vineyard to make a clean dozen... His Treo vibrates: MAX What’s happening, Charlie? CHARLIE (0.S.) The photos worked like a charm, mate. Offers are flying in like crazy. It’s time for me to be on- site. I booked a flight and should be in tomorrow afternoon. MAX Terrific. 1/11 alert the staff,104 106 09/19/2005 66. EXT. DUFLOT'S COTTAGE - EVENING 103 For a peasant, Duflot is doing rather well for himself. His home is a Provencal hacienda, made of pinkish concrete. In front ig a meticulously landscaped flower garden, and enough decorative ironwork to open a showroom. Duflot awaits on his porch, dressed in black trousers, a black shirt, and a big smile. France’s answer to Johnny Cash. As Max crosses the front garden -- BLING! -- a gaggle of plastic swans FLASH ON, lighting Max’s path... DUFLOT Monsieur Max! Bienvenu! We must have an apero. Allez, allez... And of course, no French greeting is complete without three kisses on the cheeks. Kiss, kiss, kiss. OMITTED 104+ INT. KITCHEN - SECONDS LATER 105 And then through the kitchen...where Madame Duflot is hard at work on dinner,..but not so hard at work that she can’t greet Max with three kisses-- MADAME DUFLOT. Maxie, Maxie, Maxie. ..welcome! Max hands her the roses. MADAME DUFLOT Ah, merci! Tres jolie! EXT. TERRACE - EVENING 106 Finally, Duflot leads Max out to a small tiled terrace, with a stunning view of the vineyard and the tuberon Valley. Surprise -- Christie’s here too, standing by the rail, sipping a Pastis. She looks gorgeous, her hair swept up and a grown-up dress kissing her body. On a trolley, is a mess of appetizers, including a thick earthenware terrine of thrush pate, with the bird’s beak protruding from the dark meat.09/19/2005 67. DUFLOT I hope you do not mind, I took the liberty of inviting Henri’s daughter to join us... Max is slightly annoyed by how Duflot so easily accepts Christie as the real thing. DUFLOT {moves off) Un moment. I will get you a Pastis. Christie comes over. She’s eating some pate on a cracker. CHRISTIE Bonjour cuz. Kiss, kiss, kiss. MAK I see you've managed to ingratiate yourself with the help. (ze: sexy dress) Where'd you get the Halston? CHRISTIE Dad’s closet...and actually it’s a Mary Quant. MAX (none the wiser; re: the woman who left the dress behind) I wonder what she wore home. TIME CUT09/19/2005 68. EXT. DINING VERANDA - LATER 107 All are now buzzed from Pastis. As Max and Christie ait, Duflot makes a tour of the table, pouring everyone a glass of ta Siroque wine, while introducing the next phase of dinner. DUFLOT A simple meal...after'a day's work in the fields... (points to each dish) Caviar d’aubergine... Cold puree Of eggplant... Headless larks... CHRISTIE Headless? Where are the heads? We didn’t, like, eat them already, did we? DUFLOT and finally...civet of wild boar ‘a Ja Provence, marinated in red wine and blood pressed from the carcass. MAX Why would one have it any other way? Duflot tries to pour wine for Papa, but Papa rudely refuses in an unintelligible language, covering his glass with his hand, which gets drenched. He abruptly gets up and walks to the kitchen.09/19/2005 69. MADAME DUFLOT Qaughing) Papa only speaks Provencal; the language of Mistral. DUFLOT (1adling the black casserole into plates) Very few still understand it. tt is now practiced exclusively by poets and sodomites Papa returns to the table.with another bottle of red Coin Perdu, and a corkscrew. But before he can undo the cork, Duflot rises as if to scold an idiot child. Le DUFLOT Non, Papa! Non! PAPA, Le Coin, Le Coin! Both Max and Christie notice how Duflot fights to stop the bottle from being opened. But Papa’s a tough old bugger -- and the fight devolves into a wrestling match... DUFLOT (struggling and explaining) Le Coin Perdu...a local vin de garage. Max Vin de garage? CHRISTIE (clarifying) It’s a garage wine. Like a boutique wine. Small vineyards, small production, seriously big prices. Duflot finally wrests the wine away...as Papa mumbles to himself. DUFLOT It is overrated. CHRISTIE It didn’t say that on the Web. (to Max) Turns out Le Coin Perdu is a bit of @ Provencal legend. (MORE) ae es09/19/2005 CHRISTIE (cont'd) It changes hands among collectors, and still, nobody has any idea Where it’s grown, or who wakes it. 69aA.09/19/2005 69a, Duflot locks the bottle in a cabinet. DUFLOT It is time for fromage. ‘TIME CUT 108 INT. DINING ROOM - LATER 108 Everyone is swollen, drunk, and loud...there’s the cheese plate... And great wedges of tarte aux pommes. And diamond- shaped, almond biscuits... Christie looks anaesthetized. Duflot makes another tour of the table, pouring glasses of a pale, oily liquid...fuel for Max's irritation. CHRISTIE What is it?09/19/2005 70. DUFLOT Marc de Provence. I made it myself, MADAME DUFLOT (to Christie) It is your father’s recipe! MAX (fueled; irritated and jealous) Tell us Madame Duflot: what is it that makes you.so sure she is Henry's child? MADAME DUFLOT (gesturing) But of course, the nose. MAX Besides that? an awkward silence as Madame Duflot can’t answer. Christie is irritated at being discussed like this. MAX Come on, there mst be something, anything -- besides that lovely snout -- that can help corroborate her claim...? (to all) I mean, did Henry ever discuss California? Or a woman in California? Any drunken moments of candor where he mentioned offspring? I mean, seriously, the last person Henry would breed’ with is an American. Duflot shrugs, interrupting. DUPLOT (serious observation) Sadly, in this moment, I see more of Henry in the girl than I do in you. All eyes turn to Christie, who somehow barely maintains her dignity. Max now openly jealous. She stands, as if about to make an important announcement, and holds onto the table for balance. Ree tae09/19/2005 70an CHRISTIE (hurt) Max, all I care about is learning about my father... (MORE)09/19/2005 CHRISTIE (cont'd) This is my chance to find out who made me...and I don’t give a rat’s ass if you believe who I am or not... TOR.09/19/2005 71. And with that: CHRISTIE Monsieur and Madame Dulfot. Thank you for a lovely evening. MADAME DUFLOT Papa will walk you back. CHRISTIE No, merci. The vines will guide me home. Christie exits...leaving a silence. Duflot looks to Max: DUFLOT (friendly) * Max, it is time to talk business. * You and I, Cigars. * 109 «EXT. TERRACE - SECONDS LATER 109 Max and Duflot have returned to the terrace with Mare and Montecristos. Papa is somnambulant in the background. * MAX Partnership? You must be barking mad. DUFLOT (offers a glass; as if an answer) More marc? Max shakes his head. MAX Duflot, I looked at the books this morning, Cashflow reports. Capital expenditures. Net income. This place hasn/t showed a profit in a decade -- and it baffles me how Henry managed to afford Lamborgini tractors and red Harley's. DUFLOT (shrugs: c’est la vie; but uncomfortable) Henry...he was tres inventif, he * always found a way. *09/19/2005 71a. MAX 8000 bottles per hectare, multiplied by 11 hectares, divided by your wholesale price per case, with a 30% sell-back ratio, leading to a pre-tax loss of approximately $23,000 euros a year...for ten years. Inventive, very. Believable, no. DUFLOT (uncomfortable with Max‘s diligence) It is true that we have experienced some difficult years. But that is not the point, Max... Your Uncle...he was someone special. Un gentilhomme. ¥or me, to start again, with someone new? Non. My heart will not take this change. MAX My stomach won‘t take anything below true market value. DUFLOT Max -- I am prepared to invest everything I have to replant the vineyard. “I offer you $0,000 a year...without breaking a’ finger. aoe eee wae rs110 a 09/19/2005 72. MAX Duflot, I’m a banker. There’s no indication in those records that this vineyard can support that kind of money... Not to mention, my estate agent is coming down tomorrow afternoon to present me with offers, Probably nothing less than two to three million euros. Two mil is life-changing, 50K, before tax, is loose change... Max senses Duflot’s desperation. MAK (soothing) Francis...I/ve already given you my word that I'd press the new owners to accept you as an essential part of the whole deal. I’m sorry... (rising) Thank you for dinner. Bonsoir... Max gets up. Exits. Duflot, defeated. Papa is looking off in the darkness to the vines, as if he is listening to them talk Papa burps. PAPA Asshole. DUFLOT Yes, he is. PAPA Not him. You. OMITTED 110 EXT. LIMESTONE HECTARE - NIGHT - MOVING WITH MAX 11 Max stumbles home through the vineyard, plastered. He suddenly finds himself walking over rocky terrain...and stops to take it in, He's never seen this part of the vineyard, and beneath the moonlight, he tries his best to absorb the lunar-like terrain... Then, he sees Christie, wandering (and limping) in the wrong direction, one shoe in her hand.112 09/19/2005 73. MAX What the hell are you doing? CHRISTIE Lost my shoe. Max considers leaving her there, but then thinks better. EXT. VINEYARD - NIGHT - MINUTES LATER 112 Christie piggybacks on Max, holding onto her dangling espadrille, which swings with Max's every inebriated step. CHRISTIE (upset) Max? Why can’t Henry be my Dad? MAX Because now that he’s back in my life, I don’t want to share him. CHRISTIE So you really don’t believe me, then? MAX Christie...my Uncle put the kama in sutra. Which is a long way of saying he was a womanizer. And by the looks of that photo, your old lady had some fun in her salad days. CHRISTI (irritated) Are you saying she was loose? Max No-- No, I’m saying that Henry was. CHRISTIE Max, I know your parents died when you were young. Ludivine told me. My Mom was an only child and I grew up without a Dad too. Doesn’t it matter to you that I might be the only blood relative you have? MAX Yes, it does matter. That’s why I want to be sure.09/19/2005 73a. Christie grabs a few grapes as she passes by a vine. Looks at them.09/19/2005 73A. CHRISTIE In this part of the vineyard... He's pruning the vines... (points) See all the dead grapes on the ground? It's way too much work for a shitty table wine... Max, I think that Duflot guy’s up to something. MAK hat’s patently obvious.09/19/2005 INT. BASTIDE - FOOT OF THE STAIRS - LATER On her feet now, Max guides Christie to the foot of the stairs. She stops him by flirtatiously taking his hand. takes off her other shoe. CHRISTIE (mimicking Madame Duflot as if she heard) You know Max, half the aristocrats in France have liaisong with their cousins. 74. 113 she Her eyes slightly droopy, Christie sways in...as if to kise Max... reciprocate, Christie's body language changes...and she limp...fast asleep in his arms. MAK Now you're starting to act like Henry's daughter. Max scoops her up and heads, up the stairs... INT. CHRISTIE'S BEDROOM - SAME Max considers this opportunity. But before he can goes 114 Max has tucked her in, Studies her face, looking for signs of Henry in her, Max can’t help himself. The booze has opened him up. He brushes the hair away from her eyes.. MAX This was my room when I was a boy. (looks around) God, I loved being here with him... No bedtime, no chores, and best of all, no squabbling adults... I never told him, but those summers saved my childhood. As he heads for the door- CHRISTIE Thanks a million, Max-a-million. Max stops. Frozen. Can’t speak. No one ever called him that, except...Uncle Henry. FADE TO BLACK: we116 117 09/19/2005 75. EXT, FRONT COURT - NEXT MORNING 115 Max lies on the bench, going through more of the estate’s accounting records. His Treo rings. He site up and answers... INT, LUSTIG BANK - DAY 116 Amis, Max's nemesis is on the phone. AMIS Max, my boy, so sorry to hear you're out. INT. FRONT COURT - CONTINUOUS 17 MAX {now alert) Afraid your intel’s wrong Amis -- but then again, you always were at the back end of the conga... By the way, I forgot to thank you for your generous contribution to my retirement fund. AMIS You've crossed the line one too many times, Skinner. And as far as LB's concerned, it’s open season on you and yours. Amis hangs up, leaving Max just a little bit tweaked... Just as...a smart BMW coasts down the driveway toward the house. Max walks toward the car... Seconds later, an ELEGANT MAN, 50's, emerges. He has a quaffed grey goatee and wears a silk ascot and blue blazer with gold buttons. MAX Can I help you? MAN Ah, oui, anglais... 1 am Jean- Marie Brunier. No reaction from Max.09/19/2005 76. MAN I was contacted by Nathalie Auzet...to test the vines. MAK (after a beat) The oenologue? ! MONTAGE SEQUENCE. .. 118 INT. CAVE - DAY 118 Jean-Marie uses a syringe to suck out some wine from one of the oaking barrels. He tastes, then spits onto the cellar floor. Max watches closely. His Treo rings. MAK Gemma, Long time! 118A INT. LONDON - LAWTON BROTHERS - SAME 118A Gemma is on her headset-- GEMMA Max, I've just had a vision of you serving Kenny a latte at Starbucks. MAK Getting comfortable in my absence, is he? ANGLE ON - KENNY As he orders Max's team around like he’s now the boss. KENNY Now hear this: we’re not here for the dental plan! 118B INT. CAVE ~ SAME 1188 GEMMA He's even taking credit for your trade this week...telling everyone in the office that he was the one who gave you the idea. * *119 120 121 09/19/2005 76A. MAX * Gemma, if he wasn’t a backstabbing * xunt,'I would have never hired him. * GEMMA + But Max-- . MAX * A tout a 1’heure, Gemma. . Hangs up. * MAX * (to Jean-Marie) a Well? + He spits wine out of his mouth, nearly hitting Max. * JBAN-MARIE Piquette. (Awful.) EXT. VINEYARD - DAY 119 Jean-Marie inspects the leaves on the vines. Rips a few off, studies their coloring, smells them. SEAN-MARTE Maladie. (Disease) EXT. VINEYARD - DAY 120 Jean-Marie walks down a row of vines, pulling off a single grape from each one...until he has collected a hundred. He places them all into a plastic bag, mashes the grapes with his hand, and tastes the mushy liquid -- pits, skins and all... He then scrapes some of the mush into a Refractometer...which looks like a telescope. He holds the mush up to the light to analyze it. SEAN-MARIE Pas terrible. EXT. VINEYARD - DAY 121 Jean-Marie scoops up some soil.,.rubs it in hie hands, spits into his hand and creates a clay-like substance.09/19/2005 76AA. OBAN-MARTE Fiente, (then translating) Chickenshit .122 123 09/19/2005 77. CLOSE SHOT - ON MAX As his eyes drift to the wall of trees that Christie mentioned the night before EXT. CANOPIED TREE PATH - SECONDS LATER 122 Max leads Jean-Marie through the darkened tree corridor... EXT, LIMESTONE HECTARE - DAY 123 Max surveys the patch. Wow. It looks amazing. Jean-Marie finishes inspecting the vines and comes to Max. JEAN-MARTE (arrogant to have bis time wasted) More like a quarry than a vineyard... (kicks some stones) One might as well try to grow asparagus in the Sahara. MAX Looks very well-kept to me (points to grapes) Why are all those grape bunches on the ground? JEAN-MARIE Vendage vert. You cut off two of every three bunches so what's left gets all the nourishment. MAX If the land here’s so bad, why go through all that trouble? JEAN-MARIE Perhaps a peasant’s last attempt to salvage what he could? It is like taking one’s time while cooking Le Mac. “The end result will always be Le Mac. MAX So then what's the verdict?09/19/2005 7A. JEAN-MARIE (of£icious) The soil is devoid of even the most basic minerales. The vines themselves are far too degraded to produce a respectable grape... (MORE)124 128 09/19/2005 78. JEAN-MARIE (cont'd) In summary, it is my professional opinion that despite your vigneron’s admirable attempt efforts -- this terroir is beyond help... Frankly, you might consider growing potatoes or squash? (then) I will have my office fax the report to Miss Auzet's office this afternoon... Jean-Marie walks off. Max, beaten, speechless. EXT. VINEYARD - MINUTES LATER 124 Max drifts back to the bastide, and sees papers and letters blowing along the ground-- MAX'S POV - AT THE POOL Christie lying on her stomach on a chaise lounge, suntanning, fast asleep. Beside her are a few old shoe boxes. She was going through Henry’s letters, photos, etc... But the breeze has swept some of them.from the boxes. A few are even floating in the pool... EXT. POOL - SECONDS LATER 125 Max angrily slaps wet papers onto Christie’s back, waking her. MAX Wakey, wakey, beach Bunny. (she opens her eyes) What do you think you're doing? That's Henry’s private stuff. CHRISTIE Did you know that Dad mixed a martini for Winston Churchill? He also danced a waltz with Amelia Earhart...in 19751 Max snaps the diary out of her hand. MAX Christie -- do you want to know about the real Henry Skinner, not the one manufactured by your overactive imagination? (MORE) tena09/19/2005 78a. MAX (cont'd) Henry Skinner was a man so afraid of committing to the real world, that he retreated to a worthless chateau to drink and shag his way to a lonely end. Max is immediately upset with himself for saying this. CHRISTIE Everything I need to know about my Dad is right here...right in front of me... (sweeps her hand across the estate) And if this place meant as much to him as I think it did, then you're worse than I thought for even thinking about selling it. (then; standing) I/11 leave tomorrow. Christie huffs into the house, her back reddening from too Hee REE OF 4409/19/2005 79. EXT. POOL - LATER 126 Max, miserable, is collecting the photos and papers. He notices a few stray ones have made their way to the pool. He grabs the skimmer and scoops them up. One of them has familiar handwriting...his. He spreads the wet letter on the flat flagstone and reads... MAX (V.0.) “Henry. Hope you're doing your stretches for another summer of tennis and rumba. Bad news ~- I’m stuck here at the bank. No holidays for interns. I got the watch, Henry. That really was too much. 1946 Patek Phillipe. Only the best! It certainly puts me way ahead of the Jones’ around here. I've moved up from being the coffee boy. My sense of humor is not appreciated, so I just keep my mouth shut. I’m going to have to streamline my attitudes and sharpen ay claws if I’m going to get ahead. For all the pressure, it’s still a lark and T’m ail about that. Maybe next sumer? Keep the Cohibas moist. Max-a-1/4-a million.# Then, Max comes upon a photo...and double-takes. He looks closely: It’s duplicate of Christie’s photo! Shit! He flips the photo around. AAR REE EEE127 09/19/2005 80. Scribbled in green ink in his Uncle’s writing it says: “Alison Roberts. The San Francisco Treat.” INT. UNCLE HENRY’S STUDY - MINUTES LATER 126A * Max compares the duplicate photo side-by-side with the one * that Christie brought. They are a perfect match... He is * stunned. Max's Treo rings. * Max Charlie...? CHARLIE'S VOICE How's it going, old boy? Working hard on the house? max (covering) At it since daybreak. True sense of accomplishment. CHARLIE Really? I hate to think of you toiling down there all alone. MAX We're English, Charlie. We were born to rule and sacrifice. Where are you? Max looks out the window and sees Charlie standing in the * center of the garden, taking everything in. He’s dressed in a double-breasted blazer, pale grey flannels, and a Panama Hat. CHARLIE (loudly) MAX, TAKE MY ORIGINAL ESTIMATE AND SHOVE IT UP MY ARSE! IF I CAN'T, GET YOU FIVE MILLION I'M IN THE * WRONG SPORT! Max violently gestures to Charlie to keep his voice down! Christie may be eavesdropping ~- and she is...from her attic window. EXT. POOL - A LITTLE BIT LATER 127 Max and Charlie sit at the chess table. Max has obviously downloaded Charlie on the oenologue’s assessment.09/19/2005 s80aA. CHARLIE It's a disaster. Your frog wine man may well have knocked an “£- you" of€ our sale price.09/19/2005 soa. MAX (business mode) Best approach now is to dump the thing as fast as we can, for as much as we can... But don’t forget, Duflot’s included.19R Max points upstairs to Christie's room, in breeze, drying. Off Charlie's look of unease. 09/19/2005 CHARLIE I'll do ny best... .provided, of course, that you cover my travel expenses...and a nominal per diem, say, 100 Ruros a day. Smiling, Charlie’s in a “win-win.” MAX You tight-fisted jockey. CHARLIE (looking around) Now then...what’s on the agenda? Steak frites? Bottle of Ricard? An evening game of bridge? MAX Real men don’t play bridge, Charlie. They don’t play bridge and they don’t dress like Richard Attenborough. (points to his outfit) Loosen up for God’s sake. Max gets up. CHARLIE Where are you going? MAX Obligatory! Cultural activity with an old friend, CHARLIE (disappointed) So that’s it, then? You're abandoning your best mate here, all alone? MAK Who said you were my best mate? And who said you were alone? EXT, VILLAGE - EVENING Lots of cars are parked in all conceivable places: on sidewalks, in driveways, on patios. a1. where her dress flaps 128Max maneuvers his Uncle’s massive, dense, plein tre: Uncle’s concoctions. He bottle of Le Coin Perdu £. the Grand Chateau, as he 09/19/2005 Bian. motorcycle and parks it beneath a . He looks dapper, in one of his climbs off the bike, pulls out a rom the pannier, and heads toward dials a number... rs09/19/2005 81a. INT. LONDON - LAWTON BROTHERS - SAME 129 Kenny’s cellphone rings. He answers.09/19/2005 82. KENNY Hello? MAX (0.8.) Kenny, it’s your role model. KENNY Max? We thought you were dead... Why are you calling me on my mobile? 130 EXT, STREET - SAME 130 MAX Keep your voice down, and whatever you do, don’t look like something big’s about to go down... I want you to start selling 20-year gilts short at 99.10. KENNY Jesus, Max, that’s risky as hell...we could seriously piss off the markets- MAX Monday's auction is going to trade like a turd. You want to hunt with the dogs or sit on the porch with the pups? Do as I say, and keep my fingerprints off it. Clear? Are, we, clear? KENNY Alright, Max. Kemny hangs up and quickly jumps on the squawk box. KENNY Yeah, it’s Kenny over at Lawton. 131 INT. LUSTIG BANK - AMIS’ OFFICE - DAY 131 As a TRADER ducks his head in to inform Amis: ‘TRADER Someone's shorting Monday's gilt issue.09/19/2005 2a. AMIS (foaming at the mouth) Skinner! Not this time, you miserable sod!133 134 09/19/2005 83, INT. BASTIDE - KITCHEN - EVENING 132 Charlie, now in his monogrammed slippers, faces dinner alone. He sits at the table, eating pate, salad, etc... He takes a sip of La Siroque wine. Makes a face. CHARLIE Good God, that’s awful. tastes like a gendarme’s socks. CHRISTIE (0.8.) (weakly) Anyone there? Hello? Charlie hopes the cries will go away, but they don’t. CHRISTIE Anyone! Please! INT. STAIRCASE - SECONDS LATER 133 Charlie climbs the stairs, tentatively. christie peeks down... CHRISTIE who're you? CHARLIE (frozen) Ch-- Cha-- Char-- Max's friend. CHRISTIE Okay, listen "Max's friend,” I need you to get up here and tell me what my back looks like... INT. CHRISTIE’S ROOM - SBCONDS LATER 134 Christie is lying on the bed, barebacked, face down, a Washcloth covering her butt... Her back’ is completely toasted. Charlie hovers above, nervously, CHARLIE Max didn’t say that...you were... American. CHRISTIE California. Born and bred.09/19/2005 83a. CHARLIE Really? I absolutely adore Californians. Ask anyone... (then; to her back) (MORE)135 136 137 138 09/19/2005 CHARLIE (cont 'd) Well, luv, right now, your back is approximately the color of a ripe Pomegranate. CHRISTIE Bunmer. Okay, you better check the medicine cabinets for some aloe And if there isn’t any, some aspirin and a big bucket of ice’12 do. CHARLIE Righty hot On the job- Charlie moves to leave-- CHRISTIE (holding her hand out without turning over) By the way, I’m Christie. CHARLIE (reaching to shake) How do you do, Christie. I’m Charlie. CHRISTIE Love your accent. INT. STAIRCASE - SAME As he quickly goes down the stairs-- CHARLIE Love your bum. oMITreo omrrren EXT. CHATEAU - EVENING aa. 135 136 137 138 A lush, grassy field...with old trees anchored to the ground by thick, entangled roots. A flowing water garden ripples beneath the reflection of the dipping summer sun. Ornate candelabras light the area with a flickering glow.09/19/2005 as. Zt’s a posh crowd, buzzing with talk and laughter. Couples day on blankets, picnicking with wine and food, surrounding a black Steinway piano, a violin, a cello, and a‘ bass. An enormous, iridescent movie screen, attached to trees by invisible wires, appears to levitate above the ground. Max threads his way through the crowd. Suddenly. ‘here. In a slip of a dress and a sparkling array of jewelry -- looking captivating...is Fanny, He takes her in...as she unpacks a delicate display of food onto a white cloth on the grass. Max is enchanted. MAX (smiling) Have I mentioned you're a vision?09/19/2005 86. FANNY Oui. From the bottom of the pool, when you were peeking up my skirt. They kiss three times as Max laughs. MAX (ze: food) Why don’t you let me serve? FANNY (a warning) I’ve already fired you once this week. Sit. Max follows orders and sits. He gets to work opening the bottle of Le Coin Perdu. FANNY le Coin Perdu? I’ve never actually seen a bottle, MAX You've heard of it? FANNY It's very expensive... Are you trying to seduce me, Max? MAX I hadn’t thought of it. FANNY (smiling) There's something you should know about me, Max... I’m very, very choosy. MAX Well I’m very, very honored. FANNY (challenging) I'm also very very suspicious. very very irrational, and I have a very, very short temper. MAX Don’t promise me an evening of suspicion and irrational anger if you can’t deliver. I've been hurt that way before. + teen steak steee09/19/2005 86a. FANNY I'm also extremely jealous and slow to forgive. Just so you know. She serves him canapes. MAX Well, this promises to be a lovely evening. A QUARTET and a PIANIST enter to APPLAUSE. A silent movie begins projecting. They begin to play...140 142 09/19/2005 a7. EXT. VILLAGE - NIGHT 139 A storm is approaching. Lightning cuts through the dark sky, violently fracturing it into jagged pieces. Thunder RUMBLES through the valley... INT. CHRISTIE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT - OUTSIDE IT RAINS 140 Charlie anxiously slides an ice cube over Christie’s back: She‘s shivering from the cold. They’re bonding... CHARLIE Oh, forget Paris. The whole city is closed for the summer -- you'd be lucky to find the subway open. CHRISTIE I gotta go somewhere next. (musing) Maybe Venice? CHARLIE Sinking, is the rumor. Plus, one false step and you’re in a canal, being run over by gondolas. (hard sell) Now London, on the other hand, has it all...including your own Personal tour guide... Moi. cuRISTIZ Uh, Charlie. CHARLIE Yes, luv? cURISTIZ Hands off my ass. CHARLIE (sputtering) Oh-- Terribly sorry. EXT. CHATEAU - COURTYARD - NIGHT 141 Max and Fanny are swept up in the music... Nature complies with art, and it begins to rain.142 09/19/2005 88. This is no ordinary rain, though. In seconds, it’s a torrential assault from the heavens. Workers scramble to cover the piano with a tarp, as people scatter to find shelter in the chateau...or in their nearby cars. EXT. TREE - NIGHT 142 Max and fanny rush to Max’s motorcycle, which is parked beneath the tree. The tree’s leaves are dense enough to shield them from moat of the rain... FANNY Tell me, Max...why did you lose touch with Henri? MAX How do you know we lost touch? FANNY Oh, he often expressed great sadness; as though all he taught you had’ been lost. MAX You knew him? FANNY As a woman living here, it was impossible not to know him. Max assumes the worst. MAX (anxious) You and he didn’t. ..rumba. FANNY No. Max, relieved. FANNY (just joking) But of course I tried. Max chuckles. MAX Henry was the only person I've ever loved... (melancholy) And I couldn‘t even find the time to send the old bugger a postcard. (MORE)09/19/2005 MAX (cont'd) For the life of me, T can’t work out why I stopped coming here. I love this place. (nostalgic) (MORE) gaa.09/19/2005 asa. MAX (cont '€) Henry used to say: “Max-a-million, there’s nowhere else in the world where you can keep busy doing so little and enjoy it so much...” Fanny, bemused, watching him.09/19/2005 PANNY You always wore your hair like it is now, didn’t you? Max That's right. FANNY And when you were little, you wore short pants and t-shirts with orange and brown stripes? MAX (hopeful) Yes! FANNY (then) No, I don’t remember you. Max kisses Fanny. OMITTED 89. 14309/19/2005 90. omrTrED ae146 147 09/19/2005 91. INT. MAX'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 145 Max and Panny tearing off their clothes, unable to keep their hands off each other...falling onto the bed, a tangle of damp, naked bodies..1as we... FADE TO BLACK. EXT. LA SIROQUE - NEXT MORNING 146 The rain has stopped. Drip, drip, drip itself off in the rising sun... the estate dries INT. UNCLE HENRY’S BEDROOM - SAME 147 Max is fast asleep. Fanny is tiptoeing out of the bedroom, clothes in her hands. Suddenly, we HEAR Charlie SCREAMING from his room: CHARLIE (0.S.) FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! SCORPIONS! Max wakes...catching Fanny halfway to the door. FANNY (embarrassed) I must go to work. MAX Isn't that usually the bloke’s line? Fanny caught, sits on the edge of the bed. Max senses that * something is off, * FANNY Max, do you know the reason I spent the night with you? MAX Devastating sexual technique? FANNY (smiles) No... It is because once you have * done what you came here to do, you * will not return. For us, there can be no future...there is safety in * that, n’est-ce pas? *09/19/2005 91a. Max studies Fanny: obviously she’s had some hurtful cataclysm in her romantic past.09/19/2005 92. MAX Nothing’s preventing us from moving your cafe to Notting Hill. God knows London could use a decent bistro. FANNY How typical. To assume that I live in Provence because I have no choice. Max I only meant- (stops himself) Fanny... This place...it doesn’t fit my life. FANNY No Max, it is your life that doesn’t fit this place (she kisses him) Au revoir. She exits...leaving Max in a state of anxious turmoil, EXT. TENNIS COURT - MORNING 147A Max sits on a wooden bench on the sidelines, depressed, contemplative. Charlie wanders onto the court, hair wet, in a robe, holding a stack of documents. CHARLIE Where’s your diving board? MAX (notices the contracts) How'd we do? CHARLIE I'd be lying if I said the cenologue’s report didn’t hurt us. Beat. MAX I think I'm in love with her, Charlie. CHARLIE I don't blame you, mate, she’s a goddess -- even if she is your cousin.09/19/2005 93. MAX Not Christie, you twat, Fanny. CHARLTE Oh. MAX Charlie, I've been thinking. Maybe I shouldn’t-- Charlie snaps into crisis-mode, knowing full well where Max is headed. CHARLIE Max, right now you've got the scent of eau du French girl on your body... But after a cold shower... MAX I could use it as my pied-a- terre...a vacation getaway. CHARLTE Do you remember what happened when your mentor took his first vacation in fifteen years? MAK I stole his job. CHARLIE Max Skinner doesn’t do weekends, and he doesn’t do vacations. He makes money. So do what you do best Max... He plops the contract on Max's lap. A gust of white Ppissenlit flowers swirls around Max and Charlie. ..looking like the Provencal version of a snow storm... Without even looking at it, Max signs the contract. MAX (relieved) You’1l stay to sort the new owners...? CHARLIE As long as you're payin’, I’m stayin’, Max stands. Then remembers: ee es09/19/2005 93a, MAX What about Duflot? Make sure they keep him on.148 148A 09/19/2005 94. CHARLIE T tried. They said no. Dam, Max was hoping to avoid a messy ending... EXT. LIMESTONE HECTARE - DAY 148 Max wanders past Syrah...to a lonely place in the VINEYARD, where he stops... WE ARE NOW IN A FLASHBACK... YOUNG DUFLOT (20'S) is on 148A bended knee, weeding the soil. Young Max spies on him from behind the vines...and can hear him sing the lilting aria “Blower Song” from Carmen. DUFLOT La fleur que tu m'avais jetée, Dans ma prison m'était restée. Uncle Henry appears...and kneels beside to Max. YOUNG MAX Why’s he singing to them, Uncle Henry? UNCLE HENRY Max, the terroir needs more than sun and rain...more even than the loving hand of a winemaker... Tt needs harmony. It needs balance. Henry stands up and Young Max follows. They start to walk side-by-side...row by row... HENRY You see, Max, balance in wine is as elusive as balance in life... In life, it requires a heart that can listen. Notice, Max, the first four letters of heart are h-e-a- Xr... Take note: since a balanced wine can only be produced by a balanced vine -- it stands to reason that a balanced life can only be produced by a balanced man. It is therefore your charge, boy, to find that which brings harmony to your terroir, take hold of it, and never...ever...let it go... WE ARE BACK THE PRESENT... 14909/19/2005 94a. Max is now upon Duflot, who is on his hands and knees, weeding the soil...99/19/2005 95. DUFLOT My whole life, people laughed at me for singing to my vines... T explained that, someday, the vines would sing back... (beat} Here, they finally have... (standing; razor sharp eyes) You don’t know what you are doing MAX What are you talking about? DUFLOT (passionately) Ici. Le Coin Perdu. Duflot takes a bunch of grapes from the vines and crushes them in his fists, juice spilling all over him... MAX That’s impossible. The oenologue said DUFLOT The cenclogue was paid to say tha Max, paralyzed. DUFLOT We thought that if you believed La Sivoque had no value, you would leave things as they were. Status quo. MAX Ne’ DUFLOT These vines -- they are illegal. Your Uncle and I needed someone who could help find loopholes to slip through. A notaire... MAK (dawning on him) Auzet?! DUFLOT She is a clever woman. Over time she became the negociant for Henry and myself. (MORE) ae wae09/19/2005 DUFLOT (cont'd) And now she is my partner... she was merely trying to protect our secret. 95aA.09/19/2005 98a. Max, aghast. MAX Why didn’t you tell me about this? Why didn’t you trust me! DUFLOT Max, would you trust you? (ouch; that hurt) Your Uncle always intended to leave the estate to you...but he worried about what you had become. “My nephew is selfish,” he used to say." “How can I give La Siroque to a man who can’t even appreciate the simple pleasures of life?” So it was never written. Alas, fate snatched him before he could decide what to do MAX (more or less devastated) -.-and I've sold it. DUPLOT (philosophic) Then you have done the very thing your Uncle feared you would do. You have sold his spirit to the highest bidder, Max. And betrayed the only man who ever cared for you. Duflot picks up a stone-- DUFLOT Here, Max. Here was Henry's f- you money... rand lobs it at Max, who catches it. ARERR R Rk149A 09/19/2005 96. Abruptly, Duflot walks off... THE CAMERA CLOSES IN ON MAX...who stands among the vines. A gentle breeze blows across the vineyard, fluttering the leaves INT/EXT. SMART CAR - MOVING - DAY 1498, Max drives, and notices Christie walking along the side of the road, her knapsack on her back. Max lowers the window, and slows down. MAX Where you headed? CHRISTIE Not exactly sure. MAX At your age, that’s the best destination... (then) How ‘bout a lift? CHRISTIE (re: small car) Where would I sit, the glove compartment? Max smiles. CHRISTIE I'd rather walk. MAX Here-- Max holds out the copy of Death in Venice.” MAX You never finished. CHRISTIE It's your book, Max, you keep it, MAX I want you to have it... Come on. The ending may surprise you. She takes the book, stuffs it into her bag... MAX Christie? satan *09/19/2005 96an. A long silence...151 1s2 09/19/2005 96a. MAX You do have his nose... They hold eyes on each other. MAX Au revoir... CHRISTIE (touched) Au revoir, cuz. Max pulls out. REVERSE SHOT - ON CHRISTIE We are moving away from Christie...and as she recedes, we begin to hear... UNCLE HENRY’S vorcE Dear Max...I know it’s been many years since we last spoke, but T find myself in a bit of a jam and I’m afraid I need your help... omrTreD 150 INT. MARIGNANE ATRPORT - DAY 151 Max striding through the terminal toward the check-in counter. UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE The thing is, Max old boy, I’m dying...” I know this because Dr. Khan, my physician, has stopped talking about my health and begun discussing the weather... EXT. LIMESTONE HECTARE - DAY 152 Duflot wanders through the vines beneath a parasol, deflated. Tati follows, dejected, ate ae09/19/2005 UNCLE HENRY’S VoIcE Convinced that Death, like all tradesmen, would be unable to Lind ny front door... S6AA.09/19/2005 97. Madame Duflot appears from the vines and takes her husband’s arm, trying to console him. 153 OMITTED 153 184 EXT. MARIGNANE AIRPORT - RUNWAY - DAY 154 A jet speeds down the runaway... UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE :.-and having always believed wills to be written invitations to the reaper, I find myself impelled to impress ‘upon your kindness... +.-and takes off into the cloudless sky... 155 EXT. AVIGNON TRAIN STATION - DAY 155 Christie gets out of a sputtering Renault, and waves goodbye to the people who dropped her off. (Obviously she hitched a ride.) UNCLE HENRY’ S VOICE Ihave a daughter... Her name is Christie Roberts. Sadly, we have never met... 156 INT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - DAY 156 Dinner rush. For a moment, Fanny looks over to where Max was the other night, helping her as a waiter. A moment of regret... UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE Her mother’s name was Allison. She was a tour guide at a tiny vineyard in Northern California. 157 INT. TGV SPEED TRAIN - SAME 157 The train is just pulling out of the atation. Christie wobbles up the aisle, finds an open seat, and places her bag on the rack above her. She reaches into her bag and pulls out her book, “Death in Venice.” Something falls out. An envelope, with her name on it. *158 159 160 09/19/2005 98. UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE Max, I should like you to find her... And to this end I should like to leave her what is rightfully hers... INT. HEATHROW - DAY 158 A DRIVER holds a card that reads “skinner.” Max exits with a crowd of people...and motions to the Driver... UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE I hope this decision doesn’t hurt your feelings -- and as successful as you are -- you don’t need it. I hope you understand. EXT. LA STROQUE - DAY 159 A crumbling mess of beauty, glistening beneath the magic hour jight. Charlie, dressed in a crisp suit, greets a MIDDLE- AGED FRENCH COUPLE, who climb out of a silver Mercedes. The new owners. CHARLIE Delighted to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Bouffard... (he shakes) Unfortunately, there's been a slight, how shall Tt say, wrinkle with the sale MR, BOUFFARD What sort of wrinkle? CHARLIE The American sort. UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE Because for me, even in it’s Present state, La Siroque is a Place of magic... INT. TGV SPEED TRAIN - SAME 160 The train rips through the French countryside, Christie opens the envelope. Inside, she finds both photos, as well as Uncle Henry's letter to Max -- which is written in green ink, in a flowing Italianate. She begins to read... tee tene +e09/19/2005 saa, UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE And it is my heartfelt wish that Christie should share in that magic... 161 INT. MAX'S FLAT - DUSK 162 Max enters the austerity of his hip flat. Puts his keys on a steel counter. Removes Henry’s sandals, still covered with Provencal dust and drops them in the trash.162 163 UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE I like to think of her there... After all...she and La Siroque are all I leave behind... Then, as an afterthought, he takes them out. INT. TGV SPEED TRAIN - DAY - MOVING 09/19/2005 Christie finishes Uncle Henry’s letter, overcome with emotion. . OMITTED UNCLE HENRY’S VOICE Your loving Uncle... (Max signs) Henry Skinner... 162 16309/19/2005 100-102. INT. LAWTON BROTHERS - MORNING 164 Max strides through the bullpen. Is acknowledged by the other Traders. BROKER 1 Genghis! Back from the dead! MAX Lose the Christmas tie dustin, you jook like a bloody accountant. BROKER 2 Welcome back boss. Max offers a high five and pulls out, leaving him hanging. KENNY (0.S.) You wanker! Max turns -- there's Kenny, carrying his cubicle belongings in a cardboard box: he’s been canned. He’s escorted out by two SECURITY GUARDS. MAX Kenneth! Wice haircut! Don’t tell me you've been fired in my absence! KENNY You set me up, you sod! Your short order... Did my muts in in less than an hour. Lost us six million quid, you bastard. MAX (innocently) That‘’s unfortunate Kenny, but I was on suspension, how could it have anything to do with me? Gemma falls into stride with him. GEMMA, Good holiday? You look different. MAX Very relaxing thank you, Gemma. Bring me everything I need to read to get me up to date, And a double- espresso.165 09/19/2005 103 GEMMA On your desk in five... (with trepidation) Sir Nigel is waiting for you. Max stiffens. She looks genuinely worried. INT. SIR NIGEL’S OFFICE - DAY 165 A massive white and glass space of plasma screen data flow and sharp edges. Max walks across the expanse of floor to Six Nigel. He's on the phone, speaking in fluent German. Completely ignores Max. Max stands there. A power game. On the wall behind Sir Nigel he sees a Van Gogh of a rolling Provengal landscape. Exquisite swirls of color and texture. Sir Nigel hangs up, and peruses some papers without looking up. SIR NIGEL, Van Gogh. MAX I hope you’ve got a good lock on the door, sir. SIR NIGEL Don’t be soft. Its not real. Real one’s in my vault. It’s a copy. How much? Guess? Go on. (before he can) Two hundred grand. For a knock off. sit. Max follows orders. SIR NIGEL Art's a passion Max. You gotta have passions. I have, For tons of things. Horses, sports cars, money... MAX Are those passions or vices? Sir Nigel explodes.166 09/19/2005 104. SIR NIGEL HAVE I FINISHED TALKING?! When I’ve finished talking, that’s when vou talk, and it better be good! Nigel bangs his desk. SIR NIGEL While you were off on your little holiday, I’ve been through a shitstorm! Max Sir, I appreciate my actions may have caused-- Sir Nigel holds up his hand, stopping him-- SIR NIGEL I've always liked you Max. You're one of the ballsiest traders in the Square Mile. That’s why you're here. If it was up to me I wouldn't do this, this is straight from the Brothers. You’ve just got to learn there’s consequences to your sort of behavior. Sorry. But there it is. He slides an envelope across the table. SIR NIGEL You've got one hour. INT. HALLWAY - DOWNSTAIRS - MINUTES LATER 166 Max rides the escalator downstairs. Gemma awaits, biting her lip. As he arrives-- GEMMA Shall I pack my Smurfs? Max doesn’t answer. Gemma follows him. She's concerned, this is worse than she thought. GEMMA Shit Max... What happened? He hands her the envelope, unopened. Walks off.168 168A, 09/19/2005 105, INT, MAX'S OFFICE - MINUTES LATER 167 Max site in his chair, feet up on hie window sill, studying the enemy bank’s skyscraper... FLASHBACK, OMITTED 168 EXT. LA SIROQUE - POOL ~.DUSK - FLASHBACK 168A in swimming Young Max is wading in the pool. Uncle Henry, trunks and terry bathrobe, appears above him- UNCLE HENRY Max...would you mind entertaining Ms. Chenal’s daughter while T give her mother a tour of the estate? Uncle Henry smiles lasciviously at MS. CHENAL, 40's, who Pushes FANNY, 10, forward to meet Max. Even at this age, she's gorgeous and a bit dangerous. Max turns red with typical adolescent embarrassment. YOUNG MAX But I really want to finish the last chapter of “Death in Venice.” UNCLE HENRY Given the book's title, I dont expect you'll be surprised by the ending, Max (to Mother; as they go) Come now, Ms. Chenal, there are many attractions here at La Siroque, beginning with the view, which, fortuitously, is best appreciated from my bedroom... Uncle Henry and Ms. Chenal’s shuffle off,..leaving Max alone with Fanny... FANNY Je mapelle Fanny. Et toi? Max can barely answer, his face crimson with discomfort. aeEr.. ‘YOUNG MAX (eyes down) - Je...m’apelle...Max. 09/19/2005 105an. *169 09/19/2005 105A. With fearless abandon, Fanny slips off her shorts, and in only panties and a tank top, dives into the pool. She swims underwater, and pops up, right across from Max, her blue eyes sparkling in the dipping summer sun. Then, for no apparent reason, she gives Max his first kiss, then whispers in his ear. INT. MAX'S OPPICE - SAME - PRESENT 169 Gemma stands at the door, holding the envelope, and the check which was inside. GEMMA, That‘s a lot of zeros. Max or partnership. My choice. GEMMA, Listen to mummy: Max, partner, you're made for life. Sir Nigel didn’t make partner till he was fifty-three. And look at him. MAK Yeah. Look at him. GEMMA Well, what the hell are you gonna do?09/19/2005 106. INT. SIR NIGEL'S OFFICE - LATER 170 Max stares at the painting. The colors swirl over the landscape like a blazing Provencal heat haze. The door opens: Nigel enters with an heir of benevolence. SIR NIGEL What's it to be? Money or yoke? Max ignores him studying the painting. MAX When do you look at: it? SIR NIGEL What? Max studies the painting. MAX The real one. I mean...do you go down to the vault and stend there in front of it. Is that it, Nice? SIR NIGEL What’s your point Skinner? Have you made your decision? Sir Nigel turns to look at the painting. HARD CUT TO:172 09/19/2005 107. INT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - DAY at CLOSE SHOT - THE VAN GOGH PAINTING Hanging on the cafe wall. But for some reason, it looks different than before... Different frame, maybe? Fanny Passes it by, unaware, carrying food... EXT. RENAISSANCE CAFE - DAY 172 People sit outside. Fanuy comes out with some plates as a jeska tears past. She shouts after the rider, for nearly knocking her over. Flustered, Fanny comes to a table to take an order. FANNY Bonjour. Vous desirez quelque- chose? (Have you decided?) A menu lowers. It’s Max. MAX I think so. FANNY (recovering) Sure you don’t need more time? MAX No. I think I know what I want. FANNY You're sure? Max Pretty sure. FANNY So. What is it to be? He looks at Fanny for a long time. MAX How's the soup? FANNY The soup is finished. Max Like my job.09/19/2005 107aaA. Fanny lowers her pad, surprised,09/19/2005 107A. MAX (then) The fish. FANNY We've run out. MAX That’s like me...with excuses.173 09/19/2005 108. FANNY Don’t waste my time. Choose something we have. MAX Twould like a lifetime spent with @ suspicious irrational goddess. Some short tempered-jealousy on the side. I'd also like a bottle of wine that tastes like you...and a glass that’s never empty. He kisses her. MAX Forgive my lips...they find joy in the most unusual places. FANNY You remember what I whispered to you...when we were kids in the pool? MAX It appears that you do too. FANNY (nodding) Bien sur. But it was not until just now that I recognized you, Max. They kiss as we... DISSOLVE TO: EXT. LA SIROQUE - A FEW WEEKS LATER 173 zt18.2 wonderful September day. A cloudless, sunny sky, with @ soft breeze fanning through the valley...175 176 09/19/2005 109. EXT. FRONT VINEYARD - SAME 174 Vendage! A crew of GYPSY PICKERS carry straw baskets filled with grapes, clipping the grapes off the vines. Tati darts through their legs, chasing a rabbit... EXT. BASTIDE - DAY 475 Max sits on the edge of the wall, watching the pickers do their work, shirt-top opened. He looks a helluva lot like Henry... From inside the house, he can begin to hear THE SOUND OF SCREAMING. . . EXT. BASTIDE - SAME 176 Max sits on the step, listening to Christie and Duflot in the middle of a titanic, knock-down, drag-out row in the hall. They are bellowing in French, holding some vines. They seem to be fighting over how high, or low, to cut the stems .. Dulfot appears in front of Max-- DUFLOT Max! Thank God you are here! I will not work for this madperson! Jamais! Jamais! Duflot steps over to Max, and whispers, conspiratorially: DUFLOT But I love this woman! Duflot storms off as Christie appears and gives him the finger. Tati barks at Dulfot, and stays with Christie. she turns to Max-- CHRISTIE I can’t deal with this asshole, Max! He's gotta remember who the owner is -- me! (£rustration) The French! What's with their attitude? This morning I’m on the phone for two hours with the wine authorities. They’re total crooks... MAX Want me to soften them up? so thee teen177 09/19/2005 110. CHRISTIE You're hired. Max continues to sit in the sunshine as Christie turns to go, then pauses. An afterthought: CHRISTIE * Oh, by the way, Max, you were * running low on’ green ink * bought you some more... * Paperwork’s up in Dad’s study. * He and Christie lock eyes. * CHRISTIE * You never know...you may need to write a letter or something. Then, turns to jog after Duflot. CHRISTIE Tati! {calling out) * Duflot, wait! * She heads out after Duflot and Tati follows. As, Max's Treo * rings. He heads outside... MAX 80. How's the sale going? INT. MAX'S APARTMENT - SAME 177 Charlie is in Max’s apartment. A couple of large Hip Hoppers are checking it out (like Ali G). Gemma is there too, aloof but patient CHARLIE Plats in this bracket shift in a blink, I’m confident of 1.8. Maybe even 1.9... GEMMA (to hip hopper who's feet are now on the coffee table) Feet off, Jamal. Jamal complies, politely. Gemma sits down next to him, * marginally flirtatious. *09/19/2005 i10aa; GEMMA So, you're an actual rapper?179 08/19/2005 110A. EXT. BASTIDE - SAME 178 fax watches as Panny and Madame Duflot periodically enter the grane. ; placing lunch on the table, adjusting flowers, uncorking wine, etc... MAX Bullshit Charlie. I paid 1.3 two years ago, and I’ve put two hundred thou into it. You get me a twenty five percent yield or I get myself another estate agent. INT. MAX’S APARTMENT - same 179 Charlie smiles warmly. Same old Max. CHARLIE You realize, of course, you’11 never last down there. * *180 09/19/2005 111. MAX (0.3.) You takin’ odds on that? EXT. BASTIDE - SAME 180 CHARLIE (0.S.) And as impossible as it may seem... Max watches Fanny sway back towards him, her beauty all the more perfect in this moment... She gives him a glass of Rose, tussling his hair, and disappears back inside. CHARLIE -+,the very things you find sexy and unigue now will soon become the dread of your day-to-day existence... Max Is that a fact? CHARLIE And then, after months of eating, drinking, sleeping, and bonking, what have you got to look forward to? Boredom! Fanny reappears carrying plates of food, hips swinging back to the lunch table CHARLIE Max, you're my best mate and I’m telling you: you won't last! He sips the wine. MAX Mmmm. A good year. (smiles) We'll see, Charlie. we'll see. Max hangs up. Fanny gestures to him to come to the table. He does. At a distance, Christie is walking back toward them with Tati. Duflot seems to be following, as Madame Duflot comes out with a giant dish of antipasti. FANNY Okay. That tree. It is not a tree anymore. It’s an arbre.,09/19/2005 112. MAX Arbre. FANNY See that bird. C’est L’Oiseau. MAX L/Oigeau. Tati runs past. FANNY, That blue dog. C’est un chien bleu. MAX Chien bleu. As they continue, the CAMERA drifts away from them...taking in the garden, and the tennis court, and the pool, and then the vineyard, and then finally, La Siroque...just’a tiny piece of terroir in a very big world. PIN