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

Chas rides with Royal in the ambulance during Royal’s fatal heart attack.

Scene 142 of 143 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Narrator

Find another scene in The Royal Tenenbaums

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:57 into a 1:59 film

The story so farBefore scene 142

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.
Scenes 111–133
Royal returns to a useful place in the family by listening to Richie and protecting Ari and Uzi during the wedding-day crash.
Just before
Scene 139
Eli checks into a North Dakota rehabilitation hospital and introduces his sponsor.
Scene 140
Richie demonstrates the continental grip to the children, then returns Uzi’s serve down the line past Uzi.
Scene 141
Royal, Chas, Ari and Uzi ride together on a speeding garbage truck.
Scene 142
This scene

142INT. AMBULANCE. DAY.

Royal is strapped on to a gurney with tubes sticking out of his arms and an oxygen mask on his face. Chas sits beside him, holding his hand. The ambulance races full-speed up the wrong side of the street.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Chas rode with him in the ambulance, and

was the only witness to his father’s

death.

Royal appears to be smiling underneath his oxygen mask. He looks up at Chas. Chas puts his hand on Royal’s cheek. Royal closes his eyes.

NARRATOR (CONT’D)

In his will, he stipulated that his

funeral take place at dusk.

INSERT:

Page 275 of The Royal Tenenbaums. It says “Epilogue.”