American Beauty · written by Alan Ball · 1999

Lester imagines Angela in a rose-petal bath, then reveals he is masturbating beside Carolyn.

Scene 68 of 163 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Angela

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 39 min into a 1:37 film

The story so farBefore scene 68

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.

Scenes 1–13
Lester is trapped in a suburban routine of corporate work and a marriage performed for appearances.
Scenes 14–31
Family estrangement and his attraction to Angela expose how urgently Lester wants to feel alive.
Just before
Scene 65
Ricky's video captures Lester lifting weights naked except for black socks.
Scene 66
The Colonel interrupts Ricky's filming and asks for a urine sample; Ricky has frozen clean urine ready.
Scene 67
Lester gets up while Carolyn sleeps and walks toward the bathroom.
Scene 68
This scene

68INT. BURNHAM HOUSE - MASTER BATH - CONTINUOUS

Lester enters and switches on the LIGHT. The room is filled with STEAM. Lester looks around, confused, then focuses on:

His POV: Across from us, in a PEDESTAL BATHTUB, is Angela. She smiles and beckons us, and we MOVE CLOSER. ROSE PETALS float on the surface of the water, obscuring her naked body.

ANGELA

I've been waiting for you.

Lester kneels by the bathtub like a man in church.

ANGELA (CONT'D)

You've been working out, haven't

you? I can tell.

She arches her back and looks up at him provocatively.

ANGELA (CONT'D)

I was hoping you'd give me a

bath... I'm very, very dirty.

Lester gives her a hard look, then slowly slips his hand into the water between her legs. Her eyes widen and she throws her head back... and we SMASH CUT TO: