American Beauty · written by Alan Ball · 1999

The two Jims calm their barking dog and show their ordered home life.

Scene 6 of 163 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Jim #1
Lester
Jim #2

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 2 min into a 1:37 film

The story so farBefore scene 6

After becoming infatuated with his teenage daughter’s friend, a dissatisfied suburban father quits his job and pursues a more vivid life, unsettling his family and drawing him into the orbit of a troubled teenage neighbor.

Scene 2
Lester surveys his street and life as an ordinary suburban world he already experiences as death.
Just before
Scene 3
Lester wakes beside Carolyn and says that, in a way, he is already dead.
Scene 4
Lester masturbates in the shower and calls it the high point of his day.
Scene 5
Carolyn tends her rose bushes as Lester describes her exacting image.
Scene 6
This scene

6EXT. JIMS' HOUSE - CONTINUOUS

In the fenced front yard of the house next door, a dog BARKS repeatedly. A MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #1) chastises the barking dog.

JIM #1

Hush, Bitsy. You hush. What is

wrong?

LESTER (V.O.)

That's our next-door neighbor Jim.

A second MAN in a conservative suit (JIM #2) comes out of the house.

LESTER (V.O.) (CONT'D)

And that's his lover, Jim.

JIM #2

(re: barking dog)

What in the world is wrong with

her? She had a walk this morning.

JIM #1

And a jerky treat.

JIM #2

You spoil her.

(sternly)

Bitsy. No bark. Come inside. Now.