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Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020
Scene 46 of 275 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act one
An unnamed intelligence operative, recruited into a shadow war fought through time-inverted weapons and objects, teams with an enigmatic ally to stop a dying Russian oligarch from using technology gifted by a dying future to erase the present.
The Protagonist in his zone of comfort — a skilled, anonymous field operative, competent and confident inside the Kiev operation.
Broken by torture and 'killed,' he needs a new purpose; Fay offers one that transcends the nation-state loyalties that just got his team killed.
He enters the wholly unfamiliar situation of Tenet — the wind turbine, the password test, and Barbara's proof that time itself can run backward.
Priya Singh reveals arms dealer Andrei Sator and explains the future is sending back inverted materials through him.
The Protagonist arrives in London to meet Sir Michael Crosby.
A steward shows him in to lunch with Crosby at the club.
This scene
The Protagonist is shown to a table where a distinguished middle-aged man is already eating. CROSBY.
CROSBY
Started without you, hope you don’t
mind.
PROTAGONIST
I’ll catch up.
(to the Steward)
Same for me.
STEWARD
I’ll send the waiter.
PROTAGONIST
No, just pass on the order.
Crosby smiles at the Protagonist’s handling of the Steward.
CROSBY
I gather you’ve an interest in a
certain Russian national.
PROTAGONIST
Anglo-Russian. So I’ll have to
watch my step.
CROSBY
Indeed. He’s tapped into the
intelligence services – I’ve warned
them he’s feeding them rubbish, but
they don’t seem to care.
PROTAGONIST
Tell me about him.
CROSBY
I assume you’re familiar with the
Soviet-era secret cities?
PROTAGONIST
Closed cities, not shown on maps,
built up around sensitive
industries. Most of them have been
opened up and renamed as regular
towns.
CROSBY
Not the one Sator grew up in.
Stalsk-12.
In the seventies our people
estimated its population at almost
200,000. Unacknowledged to this
day. Thought to be abandoned.
PROTAGONIST
Abandoned?
CROSBY
Some kind of accident. After which
we think it became a site for
underground tests. Just two weeks
ago, same day as the Kiev Opera
siege, our satellites detected a
detonation in north-west Siberia,
about where we think Stalsk-12 was.
PROTAGONIST
Nuclear?
CROSBY
Big enough to be noticed. Sator
emerged from this blank spot on the
map with an ambition that
eventually led him here, to buy his
way into the British establishment.
PROTAGONIST
Through his wife?
CROSBY
Katherine Barton, eldest niece of
Sir Frederick Barton. She works at
Shipley’s, met Sator at an auction.
PROTAGONIST
He’s into art?
CROSBY
Like a lot of wealthy criminals, he
thinks if he covers his walls with
tasteful, expensive things it’ll
distract from the bloodshed.
Judging by the lovely girl he
married, there might be something
in it.
PROTAGONIST
Happy marriage?
CROSBY
No. Practically estranged.
PROTAGONIST
How do I get to Sator?
CROSBY
Through her, of course.
PROTAGONIST
You may have an inflated idea of my
powers of seduction.
CROSBY
Hardly. We have an ace in the
hole...
Crosby slides a SHOPPING BAG over to the Protagonist’s feet. The Protagonist looks inside: a small FRAMED DRAWING.
PROTAGONIST
You’re carrying a Goya in a Harrods
bag?
CROSBY
It’s a fake, by a Spaniard named
Arepo. One of two we confiscated
from an embezzler in Bern. We hung
on to this one for a rainy day – I
felt the first drops when India
called.
PROTAGONIST
What happened to the other one?
CROSBY
A Rubens. It turned up at
Shipley’s, where it was
authenticated by Katherine Barton
before going under the hammer. And
who do you suppose bought it?
PROTAGONIST
Her husband? Does she know it’s a
forgery?
CROSBY
Hard to say. Rumour had it that she
and Arepo were close.
Crosby looks the Protagonist over –
CROSBY (CONT'D)
Look, no offence, but this is a
world where someone claiming to be
a billionaire gets asked if they’re
just a dollar billionaire.
PROTAGONIST
And?
CROSBY
Brooks Brothers won’t cut it.
PROTAGONIST
I’m assuming I have a budget.
CROSBY
(tosses him a credit card)
Save the world, then we’ll balance
the books. Can I recommend a
tailor?
PROTAGONIST
I’ll manage. You British don’t have
a monopoly on snobbery, you know.
CROSBY
Not a monopoly. More of a
controlling interest.
The Protagonist rises, taking the credit card and the bag.
PROTAGONIST
Thanks for this. By the way, is she
a Kate or a Kathy?
CROSBY
A Kat, I believe.
The waiter arrives, bearing food, supervised by the Steward.
PROTAGONIST
Could you box that for me?
STEWARD
Certainly not.
The Protagonist smiles at Crosby, who nods goodbye.
PROTAGONIST
Goodbye, Sir Michael.