S.
Garden. Sweet smells. Serving tray.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me." "Where have I heard that one before?" "It sounds like you're trying to chat me up. Though it's not like there's any competition around here." "Let me look at you, admire you, caress you." "All right, enough already. Relax." "For us there's no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow." "Excuse me?" "Uhm..., huh..., erm..., well I'm trembling." "Maybe we should go back to work?" "No! Let me get this off my chest - once and for all." "Waiter, same again please." "I don't know, it's all so sudden, so confusing." "Let me tell you a secret - I wouldn't trade you for anything in the world." "Now, that's a real secret." "Words cannot describe how much I'm enjoying myself." "Where are we going for dinner?" "My spirit is overcome by beauty." "Aren't you jealous?" "Absolutely not - I've just got a vaguely sensation of anxiety in my stomach." "Things are going all right, aren't they?" "So I've heard, but who knows?" "You're not getting all paranoid, are you?" "I think it's wonderful and all so clear." "Beauty is highly seductive, but it can paralyse you." "Aren't you getting a little carried away?" "It leads to absolute ecstasy and sweet melancholy." "To death as well." "Oh stop it, you've been going on about that for years." "It's not as if I'm the only one." "They've been going on about everything for years." "That's what they say, but who are they." "Le temps gagne toujours."
H.
Bridge. Hot and dusty. Chair.
"Of course time conquers all." "Keep it moving, that's the answer." "Explanation please." "To start with you need plenty of different interests. You can always focus later. If you try it the other way round, it all gets so incentuous." "Doesn't it get confusing, so many choices?" "Rest assured, someone who can cook a delicious five-course dinner will never be short of friends." "Are you trying to say that quality is the only thing that counts?" "Well, you need attitude to achieve quality." "On the face of it there's not much similarity between your works, is there?" "Look at those magnificent galloping horses." "Similarity is vital for the recognition of the unknown." "You're implying the unknown needs repetition?" "Repetition contradicts the principle that art should reveal the unknown." "However, for art to be accepted repetition is necessary." "Now, there's a paradox for you." "But a nice clear statement." "No..., more like a sob-story." "Someone said an idea is not the same thing as a perception. What do you think?" "Art destroys itself time and again. Maybe that's why it is still around." "Fire wrapped in paper?" "And who's responsible for that?" "Le postillon d'amour."
E.
Highway. Morning mist. Static on the radio.
"What an enviable messenger." "Congested roads." "I'm afraid I don't know very much: what does this thing of yours mean?" "What sort of stuff do you do?" "People often ask me that. It stems from an old belief that things should have meaning." "But if nothing means anything, can there still be a something?" "Once you see something, it's there." "You're ignoring the laws of human nature - always wanting to understand what you see?" "Yeah, you're right. Your question is perfectly valid and shows the incapability of depicting something different." "What are you talking about?" "Of course, with hindsight the principle is clear and completely acceptable." "The problem is, I really don't understand what you are saying. If you cross the street chances are there's always someone who will say something." "Hang on, the mist is getting thicker, I can barely see a thing." "When I can't see anything my eye tries to compensate and I see something in nothing." "All ways of looking are limited and yet always stay in the mind." "Yeah, isn't that great?" "What about your own taste? How can you get beyond it?" "I've never felt the need to go beyond anything." "But things are never nothing." "Yes, but I've no say in that. The only thing I sometimes have doubts about is expertise." "Finally you get it!" "You can identify expertise, but that doesn't really tell you anything." "It's just a retreat, back into convention. And ensuring you don't wash your dirty laundry in public." "On the contrary." "La chair est triste, hélas! Et j'ai lu tous les livres."
'.
Night. Mildew. Damp.
"I've read these books already." "But they're all classics." "It seems so superficial to pass judgements like that." "Could we have culture without judgements?" "Judgements are all around, but are they culturally important?" "That sounds like a contradiction." "Sure, it's the judgement that counts, not the person." "The idea of the individual has long since vanished from our culture, even if people pretend such a notion still exists." "So who is going to stand up and speak? Is there any scope for criticism?" "Critics play all sorts of tricks when it comes to defending themselves. Usually they get no further than descriptions or irrelevant judgements." "What's the point of having them?" "Without them, life would be a lot duller." "And we wouldn't have as much to read." "We're surrounded by a veil of words." "What? Like this?" "It's basically the same, but it doesn't mean anything." "Aren't you mystifying this a bit?" "Do you like the petit-fours?" "What about this?" "Of course everything that is not immediately understood could be called alienating. Otherwise you slide down the slippery slope of didactics." "Surely things aren't so black and white?" "Of course, please forgive me, I was getting a little carried away." "Are you looking for the definitive statement? Searching for a hero?" "The thing I like about statements is that they always satisfy the need for theory without having to read hefty books - without pictures." "They seem so indestructible, yet at best they're just the appendix to a dictionary." "The sky is blue, your eyes are shining." "Exactly." "Si tu veux nous nous aimerons avec tes lèvres sans le dire."
S.
Beach house. Cocktails. Three little dogs.
"Let's make love without words." "I"d like nothing better." "Would the work speak so eloquently without you?" "Undoubtedly. Youd start looking for a substitute immediately." "But your presence and advice are so valuable." "Thanks a lot." "It's so quiet, isn't it." "Why? What makes me so indispensable?" "The simple fact that you're here and have a name." "But?" "I control everything around me, but it's all in aid of my chosen ideal." "I don't follow you. You've already said that looking for the ideal is pointless?" "Okay, you have a point. The ideal is a paradox. Theoretically speaking you could reject it, but there is an irrational urge to achieve something." "If that's true, there must be an ideal and therefore things can develop." "That's right, but it depends on the ideal." "And that could be?" "Oh, moving comes pretty close." "An ideal without a goal, without a higher calling?" "That's clever. You see, without you I'm nothing." "Cool but not refreshing." "Every moment, every emotion, every place, they're all responsible for the way you move, even I." "I know. I just don't see myself as an individual. I'm the creation of my environment, maybe even the creator." "You receive, select and reflect - an ancient principle." "Perhaps." "Rien n'aura lieu que le lieu."
O.
Setting sun. Rope. French 'péniche'.
"Nothing's happening." "I enjoyed last night, how about you?" "On nights like that I always feel like I'm travelling back in time." "Isn't that nice?" "Not as nice as it used to be. The atmosphere is so much more exciting than the action." "Can't you ignore it?" "Yeah mostly, but only out of courtesy, by just accepting things the way they are." "But what if you get so excited that you can't sit still." "Of course, you get my point. And yet it still seems to be nostalgic décor." "An odd repetition, the atmosphere as décor." "The result is that everywhere is décor." "And already defined by culture." "Yeah, now I look at it that green is not bad at all." "Is there anything else you want to mention?" "Well, erm, I guess not." "Although...What's the problem with things just being gorgeous décor?" "A theatrical festival complete with bells and whistles." "Shaken up out of our lazy cultural habits." "A succulent idea, almost erotic." "It's coming to me now." "But this isn't the first time it's been tried, and it's always failed in the past." "What's the problem with that. The fact that it happens at all is interesting in itself." "And everything has been said about it?" "One can never say enough." "Look, the curtain's moving." "Getting a little excited aren't we?" "Anticipation." "This looks pretty good, doesn't it?" "Too good, too good to be true, but what the hell." "It's the heat of the moment that dictates the success of the décor and the mise-en-scène." "Just like the real thing." "Don't be such a cynic. It's not appearances that count but the drama in the mind." "Le temps gagne toujours."