Waterlily Jaguar (2018) - full transcript

Bob, a famous novelist, seeks to write a more serious book, only to find himself tumbling down a spiral of obsession that may leave his most important relationships in shambles, including his marriage.

♪ There is a ghost ♪

♪ In the hallway ♪

- Hi.
♪ Won't let me pass ♪

♪ But I'm trying ♪

Would you like to buy me a drink?

♪ There's no ♪
Tommy?

Okay, I'll have what he's having.

Yeah.

♪ Don't leave me, my ghost ♪

♪ Only leave ♪

♪ My ghost ♪



Thank you.

♪ Walk through the door ♪

♪ In the evening ♪

I see you're married.

- You must be a psychic.

- Actually I am.

Let me see your hand.

♪ I hear ♪
Let me see your hand.

♪ Shadow ♪

♪ Through every ♪

Married five times, wow.

And four kids.

You are very successful.

- Why don't you tell me
something that I don't know.



- Sure.

I need to check something.

- Oh yeah?
Google?

How to read a poem .com?

- No.

Shuffle and pick.

- Look, I'm not sure if you're

what scam or little hustle
you're trying to work here.

I know you want some money.

- I don't.

I don't want your money.

Please just get some...

- Oh Bob.

I wanted to say congratulations.

Four months, New York Times best seller,

that's,

that's pretty impressive.

Not to mention you made me
the biggest agent in town.

Cheers.

- Thanks, Bill.

- Uh huh.

Oh, thank you.

- Where's Helen?

Oh, she's there.

Looking ravishing, as always.

I heard from Peter that she
put this whole thing on, yeah?

- Yeah, she did.

- You good?

Okay, well, I'll be around.

Excuse me.

- Miserable?

- Oh god.

- Follow me.

Come to rescue me.

Yes.

I know how tough these things are for you.

It's like an endless colonoscopy.

It never ends.

Oh, calm down.

Turn around to some...

It can't be that bad.

Probe up my ass.

Thank you.

They love you.

They love your book.

Never seen them before in my life.

- All right, look, I found you

this nice quiet space.

No one's in it.

What's wrong?

- Endless.

- Huh?

You just haven't seemed
yourself for the past few weeks.

- Well maybe it is who I really am.

- I love you.

I love you too.

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

- I know.

I'm sorry.

- It's gonna be okay.

- I'm just gonna sit
here for a little while

and enjoy this fantastic fucking art.

- Bob, congratulations.

Helen.

Are you admiring my latest acquisition?

- We are, yes.

- Are you familiar with the artist?

- I don't think so.

- She was something years ago.

She's dead now.

Suicide, it's so sad.

It's really too bad.

She had a lot of potential.

The model's dead too.

I thought about having a retrospective,

inviting people that knew her,

but nobody's left.

- All right, we'll be back.

Thank you so much for
letting us use your home

for this party.

He's in a moment.

It's just a
pretentious photograph.

No, this person

actually existed.

I saw her.

La Brea Tar Pit Museum.

It was a hologram.

Art.

Well, kind of.

It was near this big

wooly mammoth.

It was an ergonomic thing.

It moved every 20 seconds or so

and make this god awful noise.

It was to scare the kids.

You guys don't remember that?

Yeah.

And then all the bones would
come and rearrange themselves

and become this,

this woman,

this cave woman.

It was kind of half cave woman,

half I don't know,

sex bomb.

Really?

It used to drive Mary mad.

I thought it was quite sexy.

And she'd say where's the real version?

Where's the authentic version?

Then she's had some sort of

forensically accurate
cave woman, whatever.

- Yes?
- It's me, Wil.

- Finally.

- Good morning.

- Where were you last night?

- My job is to assist you,

not parade you around like
some fat stuffed pink poodle.

- Lovely imagery, as usual.

- What do you want?

- I need to find out
about the La Brea Woman.

- What?

- Well, I was told

that there's a hologram at the museum,

or was a hologram at this museum,

but they would animate it from bones

into the body of this woman.

Of course this is Bill is the source,

so it could be just a load of crap.

But had you been there last night,

we would have had this conversation.

You would now be bringing
me the information.

- Fuck you too.

- Let's get to work.

- All right.

What museum?

- It's the tar pit,

the one with the hologram.

Did you just hear what I just said to you?

Are you listening?

- When is it dated?

- What?

- How old is the fucking skeleton?

- How the hell should I know?

Cave woman times.

When is that?

- Did it occur to you to look this up?

Shall we go have tea with her,

or do you just want me to
figure all this out myself?

- You do it.

Anyway, while you're doing that,

I'd like you to also find out

who did the artwork at the
place I was at last night

cause that's where I met her.

- It's good to see you too, Bob.

You know, I was afraid you'd fallen off

one of those toothpick
propped decks in the hills

into the dark oblivion
below the Hollywood sign.

- Well, I have.

Hmm.

- And I've rolled all
the way down the hill

into the tar pit.

And I'm at the very bottom.

I'm now speaking to you
through a special reed tube.

- It's good to be at the bottom.

It's better than the falling.

- Yeah.

Uh huh.

Of course.

Absolutely.

Yeah, that's no problem at all.

All right.

Well, when?

Just tell them that I'll be right out.

I'm just finishing up
an important call, okay.

- You got it.

- The ninth?

Perfect.

- So the bones are thought
to be about 9,000 years old,

native American.

Maybe Chumash.

The only human skeleton found there.

Can you believe that?

She was found in 1914.

She had a fracture in her skull,

which is probably what killed her.

And the remains of a domesticated dog

found next to her.

Ritual sacrifice was ruled out,

or they would have found more.

To be quite honest,

you could have found all
of this out for yourself.

- So?

Tell me again.

Why are we here and not at the tar pits?

- I told you

like three times.

- I know, but I like the way you tell it.

- Basically because they're douchebags.

- Well?

- Okay, I had a meeting set up

and then they sent this 11th hour email

saying that the board of the Tar Pits

didn't thing that they
would be portrayed well

in your novel, and as such,

they were passing.

They're assholes, that's it.

- Hmm.

- You know, whoever murdered her

dumped her in the tar pit.

- Uh huh.

The tar pit.

Death suspended.

You think your safe, but

you're just rotting away from the inside.

- Okay, stop talking, I'm not done.

She lived

probably here, historically speaking,

the Chumash or the Tongva lived

by flowing water, marshes everywhere,

got around by canoe.

She lived here.

Do you get it?

- So she was here,

right beside this water.

What was she doing?

Bathing?

Bob.

- Is it the same water?

I guess Heraclitus wouldn't think so.

Bob.

- Fragile hummingbird bones of beauty

a little nest of broken bones.

Lotus flower,

waterlily jaguar.

Hey Bob, you
know you sound crazy, right?

Bob?

- I know what I'm gonna write.

I know what I'm gonna write.

This is the book.

- Bob.

- This is the book I'm going to write.

Okay.

I need everything that you
might have come across,

or seen, or encountered,

where she went,

what it looked like.

What are the sounds?

How did it smell?

Yeah, this is the book

I've always wanted to write.

Finally some literature.

Something that will come out of me.

Yeah.

All right, you can go now.

- Oh god.

Somebody called 911.

- My god, Bob.

- Helen.

- I have calls in for the best doctors.

This is no joke.

This is serious.

Everybody knows now.

It has to stop, okay.

You have got to stop drinking.

It's destroying your health, okay.

- Look.

- Do you have any idea
what could have happened?

- Helen, please, this is idiotic.

Jesus Christ, you're taking
this way too seriously.

- I'm not taking it too seriously.

Bob,

look at me.

You could have died out there today.

You could have died.

- Well, I didn't die out there, okay.

What I,

what I need to do,

what I need to do is get back to work.

Come on, why don't you help me up.

- No, no, come on Bob, please.

Stop.

You just have to rest, baby, okay.

Just for a little bit,

just give your body a break, okay.

It's telling you you
have to stop everything.

- Bill?

Price.

I know.

They won't let me drink anymore.

They got me on some diet, exercise.

It's outrageous.

Well they want me to see a witch-doctor,

a therapist for Christ's sake.

I know, can you imagine.

Say, listen,

can you get Wilhelmina on the phone?

Well she's not picking up.

I don't know, I think they
got her in on this too.

It's some kind of intervention, I guess.

When you talk to her,

tell her I'm still working.

Well I don't know, she'll figure it out.

Yeah, yeah.

At least I'm still alive, yes.

- Hello.

- Hi.

Do you want to eat anything?

- No.

- Drink something?

No.

- Go outside?

- No.

- No?

Just go outside and sit in the sun?

- No, thank you.

- I'm gonna get the pool heater fixed

so that you can swim.

- I don't think so.

- I'm gonna do it.

- Fine.

- I'll swim for you.

Energy through osmosis.

Exercises through osmosis.

Exercisical energy.

Do you like that word, exercisical?

I just made it up and you
can use it in your next book.

- Thank you.

- If you'd like.

- Sure.

- I won't sue you or anything.

- All right, good to know.

- Hey.

I'm gonna go out, so do you want anything?

- No.

- Nothing?

- No.

- Absolutely nothing?

- Okay, now that you mention it,

if you would,

could you get me a bottle of scotch,

a bag of potato chips,

and a carton of cigarettes.

Why are you even asking me that?

What's the point?

I don't see the point of anything anymore.

- Hey.

Just talk to me.

Talk to me.

You just need to get back to yourself.

I just want you to be happy.

Bob, tell me something.

Waterlily Jaguar.

Waterlily.

What am I doing?

What am I doing?

- I don't know.

I'm not sure what it is,

this desperate drive to merge

what makes a person

look at someone,

someone who they think can't live without,

and then the next moment

want to take a rock
and bash their skull in

and throw them in a tar pit.

It's an impulse.

It hasn't changed in thousands of years.

Not much evolution in that department.

- Have you been writing?

Has he been writing?

- Bob.

- Uh huh.

Peter was,

was asking about the book.

How's the bestseller?

How's it going?

Well, he's
been writing a lot in verse.

- Verse?

- Yes.

Verse?

Interesting.

- Verse.

- Well not all of it is in verse.

You gonna tell them?

No.

- Well what?

What what?

- What part's in verse?

The book?

- It's a little

coming through slaughter.

- His bright moment been
and gone, sweetheart.

Well, English
Patient made millions.

Made Minghella a director.

- Yeah, dramatic piece of shit.

- You should think about
turning one of your novels

into a screenplay.

I don't know.

- Is he still alive?

- The writer?

Oh yeah.

Won awards.

- Huh, whatever.

Ask the average person,

nobody would know his name.

Maybe the film, but,

but definitely not his verse.

Kiss of death.

- Well, Peter, come on, back off.

Bob, think about it.

Your book,

major motion picture.

Like Dan Brown.

- That sounds like the kiss of death.

- Hey.

So who's ready for dessert?

- What is it?

- Heaven.

- I'll have some of that.

- Yeah, I'll have some.
- Yeah,

I'm gonna help you with that.

- That was good.

Yummy.

- We need more wine.

More wine.

- All right, cheers.
- Cheers.

To verse.

- So, tell me,

is he actually writing in verse?

- Yeah.

- Is it any good?

- Yeah.
I think so.

It's beautiful.

- Beautiful.

Yeah.

- Wow.

- He loves you.

- I know.

- Take your clothes off.

I have to check something.

- Check what?

Some fucking verse or something?

Something.

- No work, remember.

No work.

Yeah.

- Yeah, okay.

So?

Take your fucking clothes off.

You're so gross.

- Come on, you love it.

Get 'em off.

- Bob?

Bob?
Wake up.

Hey, where're you going?

- Park.

Isn't that what you want me to do?

I mean you want me to get exercise, right?

Look, I know it's been hard.

Come on, come with me.

- No, I'm painting.

I'm drawing.

I got stuff to do, but

have a good walk.

Did books come in?

- They did.

And they're on your desk.

Plus, I did find that

museum in Mexico City
you were asking about.

- Museo de Antropologia?

- Say it again.

Say it again.

One time, that's it.

- Museo Nacional

de Antropologia

e Historia del Estado deo Mexico.

Quesadilla.

Corova.

Taco.

- Again.

Then run away with me.

- What about the other thing?

- I looked into every
prostitute in Los Angeles area

and there was no one
named Waterlily Jaguar.

- You spoke to all of them.

Every single one of them.

- And their friends.

- I did my due diligence.

I assure you.

I mean this could all
be just the ramblings

of a crazy man, right.

- I don't know.

It sounds like Black Dahlia.

- That's super dark.

I like to live in the happy place.

- Yeah, it was dark.

He's dark.

- Speaking of happy places.

Who drew these?

- What?

Oh, nobody.

- Well, tell nobody these are

quite good.

That I am personally happy that

nobody's drawing again.

And with that, my lady,

I bid you farewell.

- So are these those real
ones, or those claws?

- Oh, it's to poke your eyes out.

- They're like eagle's feet.

- They're talons.

- This is what will roll down my back.

I have to get that.

No, stop.

- Would you just change your ringtone?

- I'm not changing my ringtone.

- Don't answer it.

- No, stop, it's Bob.

- Bob.
- Wil?

- Yeah.
- How's it going with the viewing?

- Impossible, like I told you.

That sounds like an excuse.

- Bob, quit acting like a five year old.

There's a lot of
bureaucracy involved here.

It's not gonna be that
easy to just get in there.

I'm not expecting
it to happen in a minute.

But it's got to happen.

- Did you

hear what I just said?

Do you understand?

Make it happen.

- Make it work.

- That was quick.

Okay.

Come on.

Let's go.

Oh no, you're not leaving.

- I have to work.

- Well, you can work here.

I'm gonna work here.

Come on.

I'll be here all day.

Come on.

No?

- No, that's not what we do.

Plus I promised Bob.

- Oh yeah, you promised Bob

everything would be this big secret.

I'm not gonna say anything.

You guys are like the boy scout club.

Just tell me one thing.

Tell me,

I don't know, tell me how he writes.

Does he write at a desk?

Does he write standing up?

He talks about you, you know.

Yeah, we talk about you all the time.

Tons of embarrassing
stuff I know about you.

Stuff that you wouldn't
want anyone else to know.

- Don't.

- Come on.

Why are you torturing yourself?

- What the fuck are you talking about?

- I love that dress.

It's been a long time

we've been hanging out with each other.

You can talk to me.

This is a safe place.

You know me, I'm not gonna say anything.

Come on, tell me one thing
about you that I don't know.

- Shove it.

- Wil.

Wil.

It's what he calls you, right?

Wil.

Seven years.

Seven years to the day you and I.

I have something I want to tell you.

- God, please don't.

- No, no.

I love you.

I do.

What's wrong with that?

- That's not part of this, you're married.

You have three kids.

- I'm married

with three kids,

and I love you.

What's, what's wrong about that?

Stop it.

- Wil,

just get over it.

Come on.

Come back to bed, let's hang out.

Wil.

Please God.

- Hello?

Bob, it's me.

So I have these two friends.

- You sound like you're out of breath.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

- Yeah?

So I have these two friends

that work at the university.

- So?

They're
getting their PhD's.

I think they can get us to the bones.

- Really?

Completely illegal, but

kind of possible.

- Well that's great, Wil.

No, there's one more thing.

- What's that?

This is so
super none of my business, but

Helen called me.

She thinks you're having an affair.

Bob?
- Yeah.

She wants to go to lunch.

Did you hear what I just said?

- I did.

So, is
there anything I should

know or not know?

- Yeah.

Bob?

So?

- There is no other woman.

I'm simply writing a story.

I'm sorry that hurts her.

Sometimes the work just takes over.

Can you explain that to her?

Could I just explain to her

that you're full of shit?

- Goodbye.

- It's just he's writing in
a way I've never seen before.

That's all.

- Why does it feel like this?

I mean I've been with him

when he's in writing mode

many times.

It never felt like this.

- Those are just feelings, I guess.

Why don't you write?

- No, I'm not, I don't write.

I paint.

I've been painting.

I just don't understand, I mean

he won't see a psychotherapist,

psychologist, psychiatrist, whatever.

He won't take antidepressants,

but he is depressed.

I mean clinically, he
has all the symptoms.

And he's drinking,

and I know it.

He thinks I don't, but I see it.

You must see it too.

I mean the housekeeper tells me,

friends call me and say they saw him,

and they tell me.

And maybe they're not my friends, but

it's real.

Something is wrong,

deeply wrong.

- So, we have the bones.

Well, we always have them, obviously.

That's all we do, bones.

- This is not happening.

- I really like your books.

- Thank you.

- Would you sign this one for me?

- Of course.

- Thank you.

- What's your name?
- Godfrey.

- That's an unusual name.

- We don't have time for this.

Wil, did you explain?

- I only agreed to this.

- So, where'd you come from?

- My parents actually...

- Here we are.

Everybody act normal.

I don't give a shit about your name.

- Okay, all right, yes, well.

Anyway, here we are.

Do you have a bag of laundry?

- Yes, it's over here.

Do it quick.

- Okay.

- Please do not touch.

But if you must.

- All right, we will be right outside.

- Yeah, we need to get another load,

and we'll be back.

Get it?

- You know, the other one is wrong.

I like to hear about names,

where they came from,

and their histories.

- Seriously?

- Forget it, I don't need this.

Anyway, I almost wrote a
book once all about names.

Could you step outside?

Yeah?

That'd be great.

Please.

Wil?

I gave you something.

- Yep.

- Do you have it?

- Yep.

- Well, can I have it?

- I'll bring it tomorrow.

- Can you bring it today?

- Bob.

- What?

- What is it?

- Just get it.

- What is it?

- I need it.

- See, the thing is, I know what it is,

and it is not okay.

- I can explain.

- Explain, and I'll get it.

- Why don't you go get it,

and then I'll explain it.

- No.

- It's a little like

do I give you the blowjob

and then you pay me, or

do you pay me and then
I give you the blowjob?

Do I go and kill that guy for you

and you'll pay me,

or you'll pay me first,

and then I'll go kill the guy for you.

- Fuck you.

It's in my pocket.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, you're welcome.

- It's bone.

I,

chipped this little piece

from her sternum.

I used my pocket knife.

- This is

not okay on so

many different levels.

- This is the piece closest to her heart.

You did not.

- Oh, I did.

- That's illegal.

I don't believe you

because you're not that stupid.

- Okay.

It's a rock.

Actually no, it's a shell

and I found it

outside of the fence

of the tar pit.

You happy now?

Doesn't matter what it is.

What matters

is it's something

that brings me close to her,

in contact with her,

that inspires me.

It is the essence that,

that precedes existence.

It's transformative.

- You're talking about a dead thing.

Nobody knows what she looks like,

who she is,

dead.

- She helps me write.

She makes me happy.

- Oh my god, shut up.

- Admit it.

This is the first time you
actually seen me write.

- Yes.

- And that's all you need
to concern yourself with.

- Bob, you have to tell me what to do.

Do I

let you finish the book?

Do I call a doctor?

Do I tell somebody what's going on?

- Just let me write the book, please.

- What's wrong?

- Nothing.

- It's okay to cry, you know.

I'm okay with it.

- I don't know what to do.

- We'll just do this.

You and me.

Simple.

No complications.

- What happened?

Are you, are you okay?

Okay, okay, stay there.

I'll get this.

I'll do it.

I don't want you to cut yourself.

Why won't you to cut yourself.

- Cause I won't.

- Well, I can help.

- Be careful.

- Why are you treating me this way?

Why are you treating me
like some kind of a child?

Like an invalid?

- I just...

- I can help pick up a few
goddamn pieces of glass.

You're turning me into, into...

- I'm not turning you into anything.

You're turning yourself into...

- Why are you treating
me like an invalid then?

- I am not.
- Well, what do you call this?

- I am just trying to prevent...

- What are you really trying to do to me?

- I love you.

- You love me?

Oh, that's what you call this?

You call this love?

- I love you, so I don't want
something to happen to you.

- Do you think that if you treat me

like some kind of a,

a delicate little piece of glass sculpture

that everything's gonna be okay?

You can't even look at me.

Look at me.

Anybody that sees me

knows I'm not some fragile
piece of glass shit.

If they spent a couple of hours with me,

they would know that.

- You weren't.

- What?

- You weren't.

- What are you talking about?

- You weren't fragile,

but now you are.

I,
you, you don't seem like yourself.

I mean you're, you're,

you're hollow.

I'm trying to reach you,

but I can't.

I don't feel any connection with you.

I mean you say all the right things.

But it means nothing.

I don't know who you are anymore.

I don't know where you are.

I mean you're standing
right in front of me,

but I feel like you're not here.

- You're insane.

You've completely lost your mind!

I give you everything,

everything I have.

I tell you, I call you,

I tell you I love you.

I walk on,

on fucking eggshells around you.

Fuck you.

- Fuck you.

You sound like the idiot.

Do you want a divorce?

What?

- Do you want a divorce?

- Why would I want a divorce?

- Answer the question.

- Oh Jesus Christ.

- I don't know what to do.

- I'm sorry.

We have to stop.

I'm sorry.

I have to sit down.

Okay.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I feel like I'm going to faint.

Good to see you Bob.

So, this is it?

- Yeah.

It's interesting.

- It's not what the
public expects from you.

- We actually think his readers

will be willing to go in this direction.

- It's a risk.

And as you know,

it can work.

Sometimes it does.

But more often than not,

it doesn't.

And then you lose your credibility.

- At which point it will
be hard to sell them

on what they expect

because you've broken
the spell, so to speak.

- Meaning possibly
nobody will believe you.

Nobody will take you seriously, possibly.

- We've explained this to him.

He understands.

- Yeah, he's not kidding.

I've tried to warn him.

It won't work.

- If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

I'm willing to take the risk.

- Look, we're just trying
to protect you, okay.

You got, no thank you.

You've got families to you know, support.

You've got a reputation to uphold.

If you want to continue to work,

and believe me,

we want you to,

to have an extended career,

to be able to work

while you grow old...

- It's very simple.

Either you will publish the book,

or I'll take it somewhere else.

- Bob.

With respect, we've had some interest

from two separate houses.

- Okay, then.

We'll bring in

what's his name?

- Rodrigo?
- Rodrigo

from the poetry department,

and he'll take charge of the rest of it.

We're done here?

- Did you have

a design and cover approval,

or did you already have an idea?

- I know what I want to do.

- Before they go and waste more money

on hiring a graphic designer...

- Gentlemen, thank you.

Thank you.

What the fuck, Wilhelmina?

- The book is the book.

It has nothing to do with us?

I didn't want it to interfere.

- The book is the book?

Don't want it to interfere
with us, right, yeah.

Bob.

Us.

What the fuck are you talking about?

You are right.

You're right.

I hate that you're right.

- So are we gonna have sex?

Cause I only have like an hour.

- I don't know if I can.

What am in gonna tell Mary?

Okay.

Maybe.

- Come quickly.

Come, mi amore.

Come.

Oh, come on Bob.

Don't do that, come on.

That's not fair.

Bob, it's not fair.

It's not fair.

- Shit.

- Hello?
- Bill, we need to talk.

- Mary, it's,

it's not a good time.

What are you doing?

- I'm just...

I got another letter

from the Bursar's office at Buckley for the twins.

What?

Charlie's in trouble again.

- Mary, listen.

Let me call you back, okay?

Shit.

Okay, Bob.

Bob.

Listen to me.

Buddy.

We got to talk.

I know you're going through a bad time.

I know

you're going through a bad time.

We all know you're going
through a bad time.

Okay, buddy.

We all do.

But it's important

in these moments,

in these moments

to do anything rash,

rash, impulsive.

Life is a wave.

Life's a wave.

You know that.

It's good and bad.

It's good and it's bad.

We'll get through this.

I'm here for you.

I'm here for you.

I've been here with you

since the first day,

since day one.

It's gonna be our year.

You and me.

Buddy.

I can make it happen.

You just give me a story of a book

coming in the future,

you know, like a sequel.

- No.

- Something based on your previous work,

like a prequel?

- No.

- Just something in the vein
of what you've done before.

No.

- No.

That's a lot of no's.

You remember how we first met, Bob?

Old bar and grill?

18th Street.

Young, drunk,

looking to get laid.

You with three books,

carrying one around with
you and a manuscript

thinking you're gonna be
the next Raymond Carver.

- That didn't happen.

- I mean that depends
on how you look at it.

- Well, I didn't become Raymond Carver.

- No, you became Joseph Robert Price,

New York Times bestseller.

It's took on a life of it's own.

You don't see that?

- Not what I wanted.

- It's not what you wanted.

I don't think you remember
what it is that you wanted.

- I sold out.

- You what?

What the fuck does that mean?

Well, you sell out.

Your books sell

in airports.

- Exactly.

- Yeah, exactly.

People stand in line for your books.

There are book clubs for your books.

- I don't care about that.

It's not what I wanted.

- You have anything that you want,

buy anything that you want.

You travel internationally,

Paris for dinner,

no problem.

Not what you want.

What do you want?

You want to go back to
this shitty, cold apartment

in Brooklyn?

One bedroom.

You remember that place?

Notes on the cupboard,

pretending to be a Nabokov?

On that,

you tell me what happy means?

You've lost perspective,
and that's okay, Bob.

In your position,

that's understandable.

Snap out of it, come on.

This is you and me talking.

Let's go.

- You're right.

- I'm glad we agree on that.

- Exactly.

That's what I'm doing.

I'm gonna stop.

I'm gonna start over.

And that's what I'm gonna do.

- That's an option.

You're one.

That's an option.

Here's another option.

It's gonna sound crazy,

but stay with me.

Rehab, okay.

A month away.

You do whatever you want.

We'll say it's alcohol.

We'll say it's drugs.

Prescription, no, you know what we'll say,

Bob, listen, sex addiction.

Your books will fly off the shelves.

- No.

I'm doing this.

Do you understand?

This is what doing it looks like.

- Bob, seriously,

wake up.

- It's too late.

- And he approached Helen of Troy,

the face that launched a 1,000 ships.

Not now, Jackson.

- And I, Paris,

have come to take you away from
that old and vile Menelaus.

- Come on, I can't, I
can't do this right now.

- Oh, fair woman,

the most beautiful woman in the world

sent to me by Aphrodite herself.

- Jackson,

the show opens tonight.

Everything has to be perfect.

- And it'll be perfect.

I mean you thrive on making the possible

out of the impossible.

- Stop.

Just stop, okay.

- Look, look, just look around, right.

It's perfect.

Close your eyes

and visualize this place packed.

It is perfect.

- Okay, whatever.

- Okay.

I have more information for you.

So, the obsidian mirror.

The smoking mirror.

Soul loss.

I think I can help you, Helen.

- Angelo, Luca,

hey you guys are doing a great job.

You want to take a little break?

Maybe if you come back in like an hour.

Maybe you can bring some Thai food.

There's some petty cash at the front.

That'd be awesome.

Everybody's kind of hungry and tired.

Good work.

Jackson, can you help
me get something down

from the shelf in the storage closet?

- Yeah.

- Soul lost, tell me.

- Yeah, okay, okay.

So basically there's
absolutely no connection

between the La Brea woman

and the Mayans and the Aztecs
as we know them, right.

I mean there art, their sculptures,

whatever in which they flourished in AD.

No one knows where they came from.

Cortes obliterated them.

You understand?

Like we think of these as
ancient cultures, right.

They were developing when Europe was,

right, you already know this, sorry.

- No, I mean yes and no.

Go on.

- Okay, all right, so,

so your Dia de los Muertos collection.

- But that has nothing to do with them.

I do know about these civilizations.

Just tell me what you're
gonna tell me, please.

- Okay, okay.
So the La Brea woman is
about 9,000 years old, right,

which maybe makes her one
of the early ancestors, but,

but not the other way around

which is what I think you were thinking.

- Okay.

So?

- So,

I think I can help you,

if you want to try.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

Look, the Aztecs used it not just for

looking into the future, but

also for you know, healing,

spiritually, emotionally.

- Oh, this isn't some of that
Bodhi Tree bullshit, is it?

- Yeah, but, but, but
it's better than that.

It's better than that, it's black magic.

- Black magic!

- Yeah, black magic.

- Are you kidding me?

- What's wrong with black magic?

- No, forget it.

I'm out.

- Seriously, like, just listen, all right.

We're talking

just black magic.

It worked for them.

- Just black magic!
- Just black magic.

Just listen, why won't you listen?

- I am listening.

- Okay, so listen.
- It's crazy.

- Listen.

I think

Menelaus suffers from soul loss, right.

And if I'm right,

maybe you're suffering from soul loss too.

- It is kind of oddly

good description of it.

- Right.

Okay.

All right, so we think
it's a good description,

so what if we,

what if we approached it as,

as healing, okay,

just healing.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And then we throw some
Jungian stuff in there,

some reclamation,

figure out the strong parts of you,

who you were.

I mean, you know,

and we could you, Helen of Troy,

the projection of that.

- Where do you get all this stuff,

these references?

- The internet, books.

I've been doing research.

I want to help.

- But you don't really know,

like what you're talking
about, right, right?

That's right.

- I mean no, I don't, no.

But yes, no.

I mean I don't have a
PhD or anything, but,

but I do know what I'm talking about.

And I, look,

I want to help you Helen.

I want to help.

- Okay, well, just as long as,

as long as we are clear

that we,

and that means you, know

that basically you're making this all up,

okay?

- Yeah, okay.

- But

given that,

I need help.

- Okay, all right.

Hey, hey.

- So, he left me.

He left me.

He just fucking left me.

Unbelievable.

Un-fucking-believable.

Wil.

I don't need him.

And he's nothing without me, nothing.

Fuck him.

Fuck him, fuck him.

Fucking asshole.

- What am I doing?

- Okay.

Helen?

Yes?

- You want to go out to
dinner tomorrow night?

What?

- Do you

want to go out to dinner tomorrow night

with me?

- Uh, sure.

Where were you thinking?

- I was thinking

the Ocean.

- The Ocean?

Wow, we haven't been for such a long time.

Yeah, I'd like the Ocean.

- I would like to give you this.

The bracelet was my grandmothers.

My mother sent it to me
when she passed away.

She said it was her favorite.

But I know

that it meant something to her.

- It's beautiful.

Thank you.

I put some water on for coffee.

Do you want some?

- Yeah, that would be lovely.

- Okay.

- I'll be outside.

- Okay, I'll bring it out like old times.

- Hello?

Hey.

- Yeah?

It's me.

- I know who it is.

Listen, I've been thinking.

- Thinking, huh.

That's dangerous.

I think I'm leaving

Los Angeles, I can't,

I can't really take this anymore.

I don't even really like it here.

I think I'm done.

- I understand.

I mean I do, I really do.

It's okay.

- I'm gonna go back to New York.

I can still work for you.

We can call, email, Skype.

It's really.

Where you gonna live, Brooklyn?

- No, upstate maybe.

New Paltz. I don't know

Like I can't really
afford Brooklyn anymore.

- Well that sounds great.

- Yeah.

I think so.

New beginnings.

Well, I would
invite you to the opening,

but I don't think
there's gonna be one, so.

- We should celebrate before I go.

- Okay, sure.

- Bye, Bob.

- All right, go away now.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That he who loves the beautiful,

partaking in this madness,

is called a lover.

For as has been said,

every soul of man has by law of nature

beheld realities, otherwise

it would not have entered
into a human being.

But it is not easy for all souls

to gain from earthly things a recollection

of those realities,

either for those who had
but a brief view of them

at a time earlier,

or for which, after falling to earth,

were so unfortunate as to be
turned toward unrighteousness

through some evil communication

and to have forgotten the
holy sights they once saw.

Few then are left with

which retain

an adequate recollection of them;

but these when they see

here any likeness of

the things of that other world,

are stricken with amazement

and no longer can control themselves;

but they do not understand
their condition,

because they do not clearly perceive.

- So, maybe we should drink a toast.

To Waterlily Jaguar.

- Oh yeah.

- That is the name of the book, isn't it?

- Yes.

- So it's, this is it?

It's done?

- It's done.

- So can I read it now?

- When it's published.

- Oh, come on.

That's so silly.

- Yes, it's silly.

- It's a superstition.

I mean the book's already finished.

What's it gonna affect?

Sales?

You know,

I could of helped you with the art.

- I know.

- You know, um,

those bullshit paintings I've been doing...

- I don't think your
paintings are bullshit.

- Well, thank you.

But

they were kind of,

they were kind of about you.

And the good news is, uh,

Julia is going to have a show of them,

but she already,

she just texted,

she already has a
collector who's bought one.

- Congratulations.

- That's, that's what
you have to say when you

see that image of you through my eyes?

- You're lucky.

- How am I lucky?

- You.

- How am I lucky?

Tell me, please.

- Cause you can get it out.

- Maybe.

Maybe you got it out.

I'll never know.

You never share.

No, but how am I actually lucky?

- Helen, you're lucky
because you have something

you want to be.

All I want to be is somewhere else.

- Are you finished?
Can I clear the table?

- We're not finished.

- Can I interest you in some dessert?

- I'll have the creme brulee,

so will my wife.

Good choice.

I'll be back in a few moments.

- Bob,

I tried my best.

I want you to know that.

I tried, I really did.

I'm sorry, I forgot to ask.

Would you like coffee or tea?

- My wife will have a coffee.

Americano espresso, cappuccino?

- Espresso.

Be right back.