A Thought of Ecstasy (2017) - full transcript

I always felt the greatest excitement
imagining the world beyond the headlights.

The faster I went, the more
seductive this world would become.

I never realized that there
was nothing out there...

that wouldn't turn into the dull street
eternally rushing through the lights.

I never realized that I was just always
searching for her...

like now.

A stranger in a strange country.

A stranger in my own story.

It feels like I've been here before.

She brought me here, she wanted me to come
here to find her.

That's why she turned her diary
into a bestseller.



A road map of her memories.

Just north of the Big Wall.

There's no end in sight
for the ongoing drought...

but we'll be cooling you down
on this hottest day on record.

Yes people. Today, August 13 2019
at 2:15 PM...

Furnace Creek Weather station just recorded...

an ambient air temperature
of a 137? Fahrenheit.

Stay in the shade and don't touch the news...

'cause whether they're printing
the truth or not...

the paper may catch fire in your hands.

Each chapter and each word
of her life that we didn't share...

pulled me closer to the ground.

That was my seduction.

Yes, I'm already here.
The appointment is in 15 minutes.



I know.
Everything's perfectly prepared.

No. You call it a day.

Tomorrow we'll have a signed contract.

Without a desalination plant
California will dry out.

I'm not interested in postponing this,
not even for one day.

Yes. Exactly...
'Advance Through Technology'.

Relax, I am not distracted.

I know why I'm here.

I am about to enter now.

The day I arrived in the dessert
Frank died.

Like everything in life fades
under the silver sun that burns...

through the sky like a huge magnifying glass.

His looks...

his smell...

his words faded from my recollection.

The desert became my new life.

I was reborn and everytime
I returned to L.A. it felt like...

life was everything but me.

That was my desert.

The silent ones were my favorites.

They allowed me to enter my own world.

I felt alive in every:

Should I undress?

Brought in back to life.

Every:
Should I undress and play with myself?...

had him touch me again.

Him...

Frank.

1996.

You don't get years like that anymore.

It was my favourite year.

I was going home to my life nude girls show
down on Bikini Lane.

We were dancing and laughing a lot.

Celine Dion was singing:

I'm everything I am because you loved me.

We didn't pick our names.

The owner did.

I became Hope
and my best friend was Destiny.

He said men would fall in love with us
when we were kissing...

and he was right.

Hope kissing Destiny.

The kiss is the beginning of cannibalism.

The mornings at the pool
of the motel nearby...

could double our price
for a private dance at night.

On Mondays when the men who rented
the poolside rooms were gone...

I would dive to the bottom
and wait for Destiny to save me.

I was desperate for her...

just as I was desperate for the 'Bunker'.

Hey, wake up people. You're not dreaming.

With soaring temps you may encounter a mirage.

According to local police...

the driver of the big wreck
that crashed of county state 1-90...

claims he swerved to avoid a huge wall...

with shiny golden ornaments
blocking the highway.

That's right people.
Truth is stranger than fiction!

So keep keeping it real with us
on K-X! T Palm, north of the Big Wall.

Miss Archer? This is Frank calling again.

Yeah. Frank Patrick!

Regarding the book by your client,
Ross Sinclair.

I know but the publisher
put me back in touch with you.

Tonight?

Great!

Found this godforsaken place the other day.

The Armagosa Cemetery.

There was something that drew me to it.

I strolled through the graves...

touched by the variety of memories.

One was dark black marble.

The other one nothing but
a small metal plate on a post.

And one was the memory of a Frank.

I imagined it was him.

Yesterday I went there again.

Visiting 'my' Frank.

Maybe one day I'll lay myself beside him...
again.

But that wouldn't just be another chapter
that would be another book.

Do you really think...

'your' Marie will wanna see you
if you're really 'that' Frank?

No, Frank...

reality exists in the human mind...

nowhere else.

You do understand that your repeated request
to meet the author...

cannot be accommodated.

As I said on the phone...

I'm not a stranger.

But I know that this Ross...

or whatever she calls herself now
is my Marie.

Your Marie?

Yeah, Marie Waltz!

We were close years ago.

She kept diaries.

This book, it's her...

it's our relationship.

Me as a person...

I'm a character in it.

No, not a character in it...

I am in it.

I am Frank.

I've known Ross for twenty years...

there is no Marie.

Tell Marie I'm here.

It's time to go, Frank.

You can let yourself out?

He's here.

Let's get started.

I'll send you a package with instructions.

Make sure you book the girl we discussed.

Yes...

that girl.

Believe me, he'll be there.

He'll follow the locations in the book.

Just make sure he'll find you at the Bunker.

At day 11 in the Sacramento riots...

68 more protesters have been arrested...

following one day's police shooting
of 6, darny illigit assault...

illegals on precinct 13.

The east-side north of Foster Boulevard around
Cal State University has been shut down...

and the National Guard has imposed
an 8 PM curfew.

You're listening to KX! T Palm!
One week before Tuesday's referendum...

the voice of love in the eye of the storm.

Of course I was there, at the front desk
they called off the appointment.

I mean, what can you do?
It's force majeure.

Except for Ed no one is authorized.

Yes, the appointment has just been
postponed for a few days.

Nothing has changed.

Where did you send it?
To the hotel?

No!

I went somewhere else.

I won't be available
for the next few days.

Exactly. I'll be in touch.

The Bunker.

A shell construction of a power plant...

forgotten in the midst of the desert.

The concrete walls were built on someones
illusion of a blossoming future.

Sometimes, when I was chained to them...

I would enter the void surrounding it.

With every beat of the stick
and every slap in my face...

everything spoke so vividly to my soul.

It was a dance...

just another dance.

I reentered life while I was wasting it.

The men were wearing masks...

and a camera was rolling
for their own protection.

I became a movie star of films
that no one would ever see.

It was sublime.

Stay clear.

One...

Two...

Tree...

Four...

Five...

One...

Two...

Tree...

Four...

Stay clear!

Five...

How was it?
- Yeah, it was good.

I'll call you.

Good.

Can I ask you something?

Sure.

That location outside in the desert...

where you had your session.

Is that location known for that kind of stuff?

I understand.

I have to disappoint you,
I don't offer it here.

No, no, I just wanna talk about it.

Let's start without talking.

Should I undress?

Should I...

undress and...

play with myself?

We have this illusion of being
one person for all...

of having a personality that is unique
in all our acts.

But it isn't true.

It would be an atrocious injustice
to judge us by one action alone...

as if all our existence was summed up
in just that one deed.

After all...

a character may always ask who he is.

Because a character really has
a life of his own...

marked with his unique characteristics.

For which reason he's always a somebody.

But a person may very well be a nobody.

I imagine that one day, Frank,
will ask the same question.

I see him driving through deserted streets
searching for me.

And I see him finding some way...

who does what I do...

who talks like I talking...

maybe even thinks what I think.

But that's not my life...

not my diary.

That's Franks life.

Hey.

Hey.

I thought this was your car.

Really?
- Yeah!

And I was hoping to see you again,
and here you are.

Yeah?

Right. What do you think?

Can we grab a coffee sometime together?

Common, you know that's not how it works.

Just come to my show.

Okay.

Destiny read this poem to me today.

'Empty handed I entered the world...'

'Barefoot I leave it...'

'My coming, my going...'

'Two simple happenings that got entangled...'

Yes, I can hear you.

You know our style.

She got a rough break, kinda always do.

The manuscript is fantastic and the first...
the first act is great.

Yes, I've read it.

We're just...

she'd be my second act.

A man falling in love with a ghost.

Yes, it's directly from our diary.

A diary from the realm of the dead.

We'll talk later.

Well...

let me see you walk.

No!

Not like that.

I need you to be more confident, more...
smug.

What with the hair?
I told you it should be open en free.

Not behind the neck.

I tried it and it didn't suit me.

It's not about you.

Do I really look like her?

She's dead, isn't she?

Come in.

Going to the grocery store,
do you need anything?

No, thanks.
I'm leaving for a few days, so.

Going back to L.A.?
- Yeah, with a stop in Joshua Tree.

How is your summer so far?

Not enough Vegas guys.

And what about him?
- Oh, he's from Germany.

I call him the German Hans.

Well, at least the meter's running.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna give him a discount.
He only wants to talk.

I think he's looking for something
or someone. I don't know.

You better watch out.

You wanna come over until he wakes up?

Yeah, give me five minutes.

Sure.

What's gonna save us
when the Vegas guys dry up?

Same thing that saves the country
when it's in crisis.

The movies.

I love the movies.

Will you make me a movie star?

You and me?

Yes, and the sleeping German
will be our director.

You like him, right?

Why don't you hire him
for one of the film jobs?

So? You're awake.

The heat is killing me.

You get used to it.

Great film.

You know it?
- Yeah.

Great artist.

When I was a kid...

I thought my Grandpa was a murderer...

because he looked like Peter Lorre.

Is he still alive?
- No.

Did you get to know him?

No.

Then he could've bin a murderer.

Could've been.

World war two, you know?

Then he probably wasn't Peter Lorre.
- I agree.

An I sleep here tonight?
There are no free rooms around here.

And I've been living in my car since Monday.

Sorry...

that's against the rules.

Get it.

It's also to expensive.
- Yeah.

I'd like to understand.

Understand what?

What drives you?

To what?

To do what you do?

Wanna join in?

Nobody would book me.

I would.

Behind the camera.

Do you have any experience?

Yes.

Okay.

You can sleep at my place tonight
and in return you work for me.

Our top clients wear masks.

They're men in high positions.

They're paying to make a movie,
not for sex.

Only goofing.

So, the films are their protection.

And you'll film to protect them...

and us.

You and me?

No, me and my friend.

Who's that?

You'll meet her.

Tell me if it's to much.

Okay.

Stop.

Found this godforsaken place the other day.

The Armagosa Cemetery.

Nothing but a small metal plate on a post.

Maybe one day I'll lay myself
beside him again.

But that won't be just another chapter...

that'll be another book.

The client just canceled the session.

He paid but he's not gonna come.

In fact he won't be coming back again.

Destiny was turning her back on me.

One of her film jobs got canceled
and she blamed it on me.

People who write diaries
aren't living in the moment.

She said I should end it.

Maybe turn it into a book.

Define a final chapter.

I think she's jealous of Frank.

I don't think a moment exists in the moment...

once you sense that it isn't passed.

My past is Frank.

My diary is eternal.

It is my immortality.

Don't know if I'll leave this world barefoot
like Destiny once said to me.

I imagine those stairs of my strip club...

down into the red light as my exit.

And once I step through the mirrored glass
that divides me from the clients...

I would finally arrive.

It was like going home...

entering into a long since, faded time.

I saw her grave, she doesn't exist.

Who doesn't exist?
- Your friend...

September 30th 2001 she died.

Why did you bring her back to me?

You scare me.

Life is draining from me.

I walk with the fear of falling.

Each page I turned...

I was in a sort of ecstasy.

Everything spoke so vividly to my soul.
- Hey, Frank.

What are you talking about?

Who are you?

A character in search of an author
to forgive him.

I wondered when you'd show up.

It's her story.

And it was her life.

And you found me?

You thought it was Marie?

I mean, Marie had talents, but...

no talents that would reach
beyond her diary.

Of course, such a bestseller
would need a brilliant mind like yours.

You took her life.

You are Destiny, aren't you?

I loved the woman you destroyed.

But she always loved you.

Maybe that's why
she couldn't handle the child.

Don't worry, I never told the girl
about her father.

I like to keep my characters in the dark.

What do you think of her, by the way?
I mean, you've met.

This is for you.

Empty handed I entered the world...

barefoot I leave it.

My coming, my going,
two simple happenings that got entangled.

In a good story the hero must die.

Hello!

Is anybody there?

Anybody at home?

But she always loved you.

Maybe that's why
she couldn't handle the child.

What do you think about her,
by the way?

I mean, you've met.

Yes people. Today, August 13 2019
at 2:15 PM...

Furnace Creek Weather station just recorded...

an ambient air temperature
of a 137? Fahrenheit.

Yes...

it was like going home...

entering into a long since faded time.

I knew I didn't have to search for her
any longer.

She would find me.

But seduction is inevitable
No one living escapes it, not even the dead.

Jean Baudrillard