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turning to page one
turning to page one
There is a large antenna for Richie’s ham radio and a wooden coop with a falcon in it. The falcon has a hood over its eyes. Richie opens the coop, carefully removes the falcon’s hood, and feeds him some sardines from a tin.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
In fact, virtually all memory of the
brilliance of the young Tenenbaums had
been erased by two decades of betrayal,
failure and disaster.
Richie carries the falcon on his arm to the edge of the roof.
RICHIE
Go, Mordecai.
The falcon spreads its wings and lunges into the sky.
MONTAGE:
(The names of each of our characters and the names of the actors playing them appear over the following shots.)
Royal Tenenbaum sits in a chair in his hotel suite with no shirt on and a towel wrapped around his face. A woman in a white apron lifts off the towel, and Royal looks in the mirror. He is now sixty-six, with grey hair, white at the temples, worn very long in the back. He is getting a facial, and there are strips of blue cellophane covering his face. The woman quickly peels them away and begins to massage his temples. Royal lights a cigarette at the end of a three-inch holder.
Etheline Tenenbaum draws eyeliner around her eyes in the dressing mirror. She is fifty-five and has long, black hair with one silver streak that runs through it. She wears a pink slip and a gold locket. The wall behind her is filled with portraits of tribesmen and native warriors from around the world. She holds up a pair of prescription sunglasses and looks at herself. She lowers them and does her lipstick.
Chas Tenenbaum shaves in the locker room of a boxing gym. Steam fills the air. He is thirty-six and in top fighting condition. Ari and Uzi Tenenbaum are on either side of him.
Margot Tenenbaum is at a hairdresser’s with three people working on her at once. She is thirty-four. Her hair is being dyed, and there are little clamps and bits of foil twisted into it. She is smoking a cigarette, and she blows a puff of smoke as the hair dryer is lowered onto her head. She holds an open copy of a book of plays by George Bernard Shaw. She has one fake finger made of wood.
Eli Cash is in the fitting room of a clothing store having a white buckskin jacket with fringe taken in. A tailor pulls at the hem of the jacket and sticks pins in the sleeves. The tailor’s helper brings Eli a cup of tea and some cucumber sandwiches. Eli picks out a sandwich. A second helper hands him a short-brimmed Stetson cowboy hat. He puts it on at an angle and stares at himself.
Releigh St. Clair brushes his teeth with an electric toothbrush in a very small, white-tiled bathroom. He has a full, gray beard and round glasses, and he is dressed in red silk pajamas with white piping. He stops suddenly, picks up a tape recorder off the edge of the sink, and excitedly dictates something into it. He puts the tape recorder back on the sink and starts brushing his teeth again.
CONTINUED: (2)
Henry Sherman stands in front of a mirrored wall in a vestibule of his building. He is a tall black man, fifty-six years old, with grey hair and a moustache. He wears a double- breasted navy blazer. He carefully folds a checkered handkerchief and tucks it into his breast pocket. There is a hand-lettered sign regarding trash and recycling taped to the wall behind him, underneath a row of mailboxes. It is signed H. Sherman, the Landlord, in red ink.
Richie Tenenbaum looks at himself in the mirror in his stateroom on board an ocean liner. He is thirty-two, with long hair, parted on the side, and a beard. He wears a khaki suit, a striped tennis shirt, a headband, and penny loafers. The ocean goes by at a fast clip in the porthole behind him. A towel on the dresser says The Cote d’Ivoire in red stitching. He takes out a little camera. He points it at his reflection, smiles sadly, and takes a picture of himself. He puts the camera back into his pocket and goes out the door.
INSERT:
Page 22 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Chapter Two.”