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Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020
Scene 52 of 275 · ≈ 4 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.
The Protagonist begins surveilling Kat at her son's school gates — he commits to using her marriage against Sator, entering the upside-down world of the operation proper.
The newly tailored Protagonist arrives at Shipley's auction house.
He asks the receptionist for an appraisal with Kat Barton.
Kat examines the forged Goya and grows wary once she learns it came from her old lover, the forger Arepo.
This scene
The Protagonist and Kat sit at a corner table.
PROTAGONIST
I bought my Goya for cents on the
dollar from an irate Swiss banker.
Traced it to Arepo, and realized
I’d scored a bargain when he told
me who’d paid top dollar for
another one of his pictures. Your
husband.
KAT
Where’s the bargain? Your drawing’s
an obvious fake.
PROTAGONIST
My drawing’s a very good fake – you
know that better than anyone. The
information’s the bargain.
KAT
The information that I helped
defraud my own husband?
PROTAGONIST
He and I are in related businesses,
but he’s a hard man to meet. If you
and I were to make an arrangement –
KAT
Arrangement? You mean blackmail.
Don’t be afraid of the word – my
husband isn’t. And I’m sorry to
tell you he got there first.
PROTAGONIST
He knows? And he’s never done
anything about it?
KAT
Why would he?
PROTAGONIST
He paid nine million dollars –
KAT
Which would barely cover the
holiday he just forced us on.
PROTAGONIST
Where’d you go – Mars?
KAT
Viet Nam. On our yacht. His yacht.
Kat looks the Protagonist up and down...
KAT (CONT'D)
You’ve got the suit. The shoes, the
watch. But I think you’re a little
out of your depth.
PROTAGONIST
(sharp)
People who’ve amassed fortunes like
your husband’s aren’t generally
okay with being cheated out of any
of it.
Kat sips her wine. Wanting to talk. Knowing she shouldn’t.
KAT
The drawing is his hold over me. He
threatened me with the police,
prison, the works. He controls me,
my contact with my son, everything.
Leaving him would never have been
easy, now it’s impossible. My life,
now... You can’t fight. Just beg.
Or worse. In Viet Nam I tried to
love him again. If there were still
love, he might give me my son. We
sat on that bloody boat and watched
the sunsets, imitating an earlier
time. He seemed happy, so I asked.
And he made me an offer. To let me
go if I agreed to never see my son
again. I expressed myself –
INSERT CUT: a CRYSTAL BOWL of RASPBERRIES SMASHES onto the polished wood of a yacht’s deck –
KAT (CONT'D)
Then took Max ashore. He called us,
contrite. But when we came back...
INSERT CUT: Kat and Max on a launch – Kat follows Max’s gaze to see a FEMALE FIGURE SLIDE into the water...
KAT (CONT'D)
I glimpsed some other woman diving
off the boat. And he’d vanished.
I’ve never felt such envy.
PROTAGONIST
You don’t seem the jealous type.
KAT
Of her. You know how I dream of
just diving off that boat? Of
freedom?
PROTAGONIST
But you share a son.
KAT
And that’s my life.
PROTAGONIST
Did you know the drawing was a
fake?
KAT
The authentication took months –
Arepo and I became close, maybe too
close. Maybe my judgement was
clouded. I failed.
But Andrei can’t conceive of
failure, only betrayal. I didn’t
betray my husband. In retrospect,
maybe I missed my chance.
PROTAGONIST
And he let Arepo walk free?
KAT
If you’d actually met Arepo, as you
claimed, you’d understand that he
no longer walks anywhere.
PROTAGONIST
We spoke on the phone –
KAT
He can’t do that, either.
The Protagonist considers this.
PROTAGONIST
Where’s the drawing?
KAT
Why?
PROTAGONIST
Get me the introduction, I’ll take
the drawing out of the equation. No
picture, no prosecution. No hold
over you.
Kat looks at the Protagonist. Not daring to hope.
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
I might just be your second chance
–
KAT
(snaps)
I don’t need redemption.
PROTAGONIST
At betrayal.
A LARGE, WELL-DRESSED THUG sits down at the table. He takes a green bean from the Protagonist’s plate and chews it vacantly. This is VOLKOV. The Protagonist looks at Kat –
PROTAGONIST (CONT'D)
Friend of your husband?
(she nods)
You knew this would happen?
KAT
They won’t kill you. Andrei
dislikes tangling with local law
enforcement on that level.
PROTAGONIST
You must really not have liked the
look of me.
KAT
(rising)
The look of you is fine. It’s
better to get to the nasty part
before I care one way or the other.
He takes her hand, pulls her forward to kiss her cheek.
PROTAGONIST
(whispers)
There’s a number in your left coat
pocket. Don’t call from home.
A Thug puts a MEATY HAND on the Protagonist’s shoulder.
KAT
You won’t be taking my call.
PROTAGONIST
I might surprise you.
She leaves, BREEZING out through the kitchen... at Volkov’s nod, two Thugs escort the Protagonist from his chair, heading towards the kitchen – a WAITER moves to object – Volkov, eating the Protagonist’s leftovers, pulls the Waiter up short, shaking his head.