INT. KITCHEN
They eat by candlelight. Neither speaks. Neither is very hungry.

ROBERT Would you like a beer?
She smiles and shakes her head. Robert opens a bottle and takes a sip.
ROBERT (cont'd) You know what I'd like to do before we leave? I'd like to take a picture of you -- at Roseman bridge. Maybe just as the sun's coming up.

FRANCESCA Yes. I'd like that.

Pause. Robert smiles back and takes another sip. Then, knowing full well what hangs heavy between them, he asks:

ROBERT Tell me why you're not coming with me?

Francesca stops pretending to eat. She looks at him, having forgotten how well he can read her.

FRANCESCA No matter how I keep turning it around in my mind -- it doesn't seem like the right thing.

ROBERT For who?

FRANCESCA For anyone. They'll never be able to live through the talk. Richard will never be able to. He doesn't deserve that. He hasn't hurt anyone in his life.

ROBERT (getting aggressive) Then he can move! People move!

FRANCESCA His family's lived for almost a hundred years. Richard doesn't know how to live anywhere else. And the kids...

ROBERT The kids are grown! They don't need you anymore. You told me that. They hardly talk to you.

FRANCESCA No, they don't say much. But Carolyn's 16. She's just about to find out about all this for herself -- she's going to fall in love, she's going to try and figure out how to build a life with someone. If I leave what does that say to her?

ROBERT What about us? What about me?
FRANCESCA You've got to know deep down that the minute we leave here. It'll all change.
ROBERT Yeah. It could get better.

FRANCESCA No matter how much distance we put between us and this house, I bring with it with me. And I'll feel it every minute we're together. And I'll blame loving you for how much it hurts. And then even these four days won't be anything more than something sordid and... a mistake.

ROBERT (desperately) Francesca, listen to me. You think what's happened to us happens to just anybody? What we feel for each other? How much we feel? We're not even two separate people anymore. Some people search their whole lives for it and wind up alone -- most people don't even think it exists and you're going to tell me that giving it up is the right thing to do? That staying here alone in a marriage, alone in a town you hate, in a house you don't feel a part of anymore -- you're telling me that's the right thing to do!?

FRANCESCA We are the choices we've made, Robert.
ROBERT (rises) TO HELL WITH YOU!

He turns his back on her.

FRANCESCA Robert. Please. (desperate to explain) You don't understand -- no one does. When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children -- in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected to move again only you don't remember what moves you because no one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you.

ROBERT But now that you have it ...
FRANCESCA I want to keep it forever. I want to love you the way I do now the rest of my life. Don't you understand -- we'll lose it if we leave. I can't make an entire life disappear to start a new one. All I can do is try to hold onto both. Help me. Help me not lose loving you.

She embraces him. He wraps his arms around her. He whispers.

ROBERT Don't leave me. Don't leave me alone. Please.
This breaks her heart, knowing how hard it is for him to say this. She holds him tighter, until ...

ROBERT (cont'd) Listen. Maybe you feel this way, maybe you don't. Maybe it's just because you're in this house. Maybe ... maybe when they come back tomorrow you'll feel differently. Don't you think that's possible?
FRANCESCA I don't know. Please...
ROBERT I'm going to be here a few more days. I'll be at the Inn. We have some time. Let's not say any more now.
FRANCESCA No. Don't do this.
ROBERT I CAN'T SAY GOODBYE YET! We'll leave it for now. We're not saying goodbye. We're not making any decision. Maybe you'll change your mind. Maybe we'll accidentally run into each other and ... and you'll change your mind.
FRANCESCA Robert, if that happens, you'll have to decide. I won't be able to.

She cries in his arms. He kisses her as if for the last time. Then, quickly, separates himself and leaves the house.

Useful lanuage items:

knowing full well what hangs heavy between them 清楚地知道沉重的会是什么。Back

No matter how I keep turning it around in my mind 不管我如何思来想去。 Back

They'll never be able to live through the talk. 他们绝对不会经受得住人们的闲言碎语的。Back

You begin a life of details. 你就开始了充满琐碎的生活。Back