The Royal Tenenbaums · written by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson · 2001

Richie and Margot acknowledge their love and agree to keep it secret; she leaves him alone in the tent.

Scene 109 of 143 · ≈ 3 min on screen · Act three

Richie
Margot

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Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:32 into a 1:59 film

The story so farBefore scene 109

After losing his hotel room, Royal claims he has only weeks to live so he can move back in with his estranged family; as the truth unravels, he must find a way to be useful and earn a place in their lives.

Scenes 1–39
Royal is absent from the children’s adult lives, and their family remains shaped by his betrayals and abandonment.
Scenes 40–47
Royal wants a path back to Etheline and the children, and claims impending death will give him one.
Scenes 48–50
He returns to the house and openly asks his children for a chance to make things right.
Scenes 51–90
Royal tries to reconnect through schemes, misjudgments and genuine care, learning that affection alone cannot erase old injuries.
Scenes 91–92
Royal admits to Etheline that he hoped to win her back and remove Henry, revealing the motive behind his return.
Scene 101
Richie’s suicide attempt brings the family together around a crisis that Royal cannot solve through charm or deception.
Just before
Scene 106
Royal spots Richie at a bus stop after the suicide attempt, but Richie boards without speaking to him.
Scene 107
Richie rides a city bus away from the hospital.
Scene 108
Richie returns to the dark ballroom and finds Margot waiting near his tent.
Scene 109
This scene

109INT. TENT. NIGHT.

Richie looks into the tent. Margot is sitting on the floor next to a record player smoking a cigarette. She has a Rolling Stones record in her hand. She looks startled.

RICHIE

What are you doing in my tent?

MARGOT

(hesitates)

Just listening to some records.

Margot puts out her cigarette. She seems worried.

MARGOT (CONT’D)

I thought you were supposed to be in the

hospital.

RICHIE

I checked myself out.

MARGOT

Well, shouldn’t you be on some kind of

suicide watch or something?

RICHIE

(pause)

Probably.

Richie goes into the tent and sits down Indian-style in front of Margot. Margot sighs. She puts on the Rolling Stones record. It plays quietly.

MARGOT

How many stitches did you get?

RICHIE

I don’t know. You want to see?

Margot nods. Richie unwraps one of his bandages. His arm is covered with jagged, crisscrossing stitches and dried blood. Margot looks stricken.

MARGOT

Jesus, Richie. That looks horrible.

Richie nods. He wraps the bandage back around his arm.

RICHIE

I heard about your ex-husband.

MARGOT

(pause)

Desmond?

RICHIE

(hesitates)

I guess so. I didn’t get his name.

MARGOT

Yeah. I met him in the ocean. I was

swimming, and he came out to me in a

canoe. We were only married for nine

days.

RICHIE

(nods)

And I heard about Eli.

MARGOT