Lypophrenia

CINEMA PARADISO. PROJECTION BOOTH. INT. AFTERNOON Flashback.

ELENA’S VOICE
(Off-screen)
And I didn’t have time to wait for
you to comeback…

From the bottom of the spiral staircase, ELENA’S FATHER is waiting nervously,
yells up at the projection booth.

ELENA’ S FATHER
Elena! Hurry up!!

YOUNG ELENA
All right, Daddy!…

In the projection booth, ALFREDO is sitting on a stool, near the
projector. Seen from the rear, the YOUNG ELENA is leaning over
beside him, she is excited, her eyes are red and swollen with tears.

ELENA’S VOICE
(Off-screen)
So I told Alfredo how things stood
and fiat I was leaving the same
evening, and I asked him to tell you
everything. He was very kind, he
listened carefully, then…

ALFREDO answers YOUNG ELENA, stroking her hair.

ALFREDO
Easy, easy.
(Sighing)
Listen carefully to what I have to
say. If you want me to tell Toto what
you’ve told me, I will. But if you
want my advice, forget it. It’s
better for both of you if you don’t
see each other…
(YOUNG ELENA gives a start
of resentment, listens
with surprise.)
Dear girl, fire always turns into
ashes! Even the deepest love ends
sooner or later. And after that other
loves appear, lots of them. Toto, he
can’t understand fiat now. If I tell
him he won’t believe it, he’ d be
capable of killing me…But you can
understand, you’ve got to
understand…Do it for him!

WATERFRONT. INT. CAR. EVENING

SALVATORE sits there without moving, pale as a sheet, looks as if he had
grown even older. As if the whole world has fallen in on him. For ELENA, it was
a painful but liberating story. She dries her last tears.

ELENA
It’s the first time I’ve had to
chance to tell the story. I never
mentioned it to anybody.

SALVATORE
(In a daze)
Alfredo, damn him! He cast his spell
on you too!

ELENA
I told him I’d take his advice. But
before I went away I left you that
note…
(SALVATORE gives her a
quick look, a questioning
look. He listens.)
I was on my way down the stairs…
(Her voice continues, laid
over the…)

CINEMA PARADISO. PROJECTION BOOTH. INT. AFTERNOON Flashback

ELENA has already said goodbye to ALFREDO, is on her way down the stairs, but
stops short.

ELENA’ S VOICE
(Off-screen)
I thought Alfredo couldn’t see me. So
I snuck back up…

(She tip-toes back without
making any noise. Goes
over to the film-winder.
Takes out a pen, looks for
a scrap of paper, but
doesn’t see any. Her eyes
fall on the film receipts
hanging on the nail. She
tears off the top one,
turns it over and
scribbles a message on the
back.)
I wrote you where you could find me,
and that I’d wait for you.

She hangs the scrap of paper back on the nail, well in sight. She creeps out,
glancing at ALFREDO, who hasn’t noticed a thing.

WATERFRONT. EXT/INT. CAR. EVENING

ELENA finishes telling her story. She heaves a Jeep sigh.

ELENA
But you disappeared all the same.