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

At an ice-cream parlor, Royal tells Margot that Richie is hurting and asks whether a bad person can try to repair the damage.

Scene 115 of 143 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Save the Cat: Theme Stated
Royal
Margot

Find another scene in The Royal Tenenbaums

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:41 into a 1:59 film

The story so farBefore scene 115

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.
Scenes 92–110
Royal loses the household and faces separation again; Richie’s suicide attempt exposes the family’s deeper pain.
Scene 111
Richie asks Royal for advice, inviting his father to help him face a painful truth rather than perform a reunion.
Just before
Scene 112
Royal and Richie discuss Margot, their family ties and Royal’s limits as a father; Mordecai returns to the roof, though Richie doubts it is the same falcon.
Scene 113
Royal speeds the elevator down and summons Pagoda as Richie asks for help with another problem.
Scene 114
Richie, Royal and Pagoda try to take Eli for treatment; Eli recognizes that he has a drug problem, then escapes through a window.
Scene 115
This scene

115INT. ICE-CREAM PARLOR. DAY.

A room decorated like a birthday cake. Every booth is filled with divorced fathers and their young daughters. Margot sits across from Royal. Royal is dressed in his elevator-operator uniform. A waiter stands next to him.

ROYAL

I want to order some ice cream for my

daughter, please. What would you like,

Margot?

MARGOT

I told you. Nothing. I only have five

minutes.

Royal looks frustrated. Margot sighs.

MARGOT (CONT’D)

I’ll have a butterscotch sundae, I

guess.

The waiter nods and walks away. Silence.

ROYAL

Your brother’s all torn up inside.

MARGOT

(hesitates)

Well, so am I, but I’m not going to

discuss it with you.

Royal sighs. He leans across the table and says urgently:

ROYAL

Can’t someone be a shit their whole life

and want to repair the damage? I mean,

I think people want to hear that.

MARGOT

Do they?

Royal nods. Silence.

MARGOT (CONT’D)

You probably don’t even know my middle

name.

ROYAL

(pause)

It’s a trick question. You don’t have

one.

MARGOT

Helen.

ROYAL

(surprised)

That was my mother’s name.

MARGOT

(sadly)

I know it was.