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

Chas rushes the boys down the apartment hallway during the drill, warning them not to use the elevator.

Scene 21 of 143 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Narrator
Chas

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Begins 22 min into a 1:59 film

The story so farBefore scene 21

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.

Scene 1
The children ask Royal whether he still loves them as the family’s separation becomes unavoidable.
Just before
Scene 18
Margot’s private studio is shown as an unused room with old play posters and a typewriter.
Scene 19
Raleigh tests Dudley’s memory, dyslexia and hearing with blocks and a chalkboard, then learns Dudley does not believe he is color-blind.
Scene 20
Chas stages a false fire drill for Ari and Uzi, reliving the plane crash that killed Rachael and intensifying his safety obsession.
Scene 21
This scene

21INT. HALLWAY. NIGHT.

Ari presses the button for the elevator and waits. The apartment is extremely large and spare. It looks like a museum.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Chas’ wife, Rachael, was killed in a

plane crash the previous summer.

Chas and Uzi rush into the hallway. Uzi has on a pajama top and underwear. Chas yells to Ari:

CHAS

No elevators! There’s a fire!