MONTAGE - POV SHOTS OF PARIS SET TO MUSIC We hear voices over - GIL and INEZ, a young couple of Americans, engaged to be married as we shall learn. -LRB- Standard locations are listed here but they will be determined later when we location scout. Music.

EXT. MONET'S GARDENS - DAY GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- This is unbelievable - look at this. There's no city like this in the world. There never was. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- It's become so touristy. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Well that's just the awful era we live in but can you just imagine what this was like before - but even with all the fast food joints and the traffic - god, you just ca n't imagine what it was like years ago. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Well you like cities. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- I really do - I love cities - I love big cities with all the crowds and all the action. -LRB- Having seen a panoramic view of let us say the Champs Elysee we embark on a montage of the city. The comments offered above and following are an approximation of what the actors feel. -RRB-

EXT. TBD - DAY GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Look at these places - the streets - the boulevards. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- You act like you've never been here before. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- I do n't get here often enough is the problem. Every once in a while for a few days is nothing - my biggest regret is that I did n't settle here the first time I came. I should have gone with my instincts. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- I admit it's pretty but so are so many other places I've visited. GIL If I'd have stayed the first time I came by now I'd be a Parisian. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Starving.

EXT. TBD - DAY -LRB- Pause here for third dialogue exchange -RRB- GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- I'm thinking of a painting by Pisarro I've seen of Paris in the rain. Can you picture how drop dead gorgeous this city is in the rain? Imagine this town in the twenties - Paris in the twenties - in the rain - the artists and writers - I was born too late. Why did God deliver me into the world in the 1970's and in Pasadena yet. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Why does every city have to be in the rain? What's wonderful about getting wet? GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- It's romantic. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- It's annoying. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Or Paris when it's just getting dark - the lights go on - or at night - it's great at night - or no, sunset on the Champs Elysees - GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Could you ever think of us moving here after we're married?

EXT. TBD - DAY INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Oh god, no. I could never live out of the United States. And if I could it would be someplace totally different. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Like? INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- I do n't know, Hawaii. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Hawaii is America. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Yes but it's - Hawaiian. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- If I had stayed here and written novels and not gotten into grinding out movie scripts. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Right, and becoming rich and successful. Tell me the sad story. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- But this is where all the artists came to live, to work - the writers, the painters. INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- That was ninety years ago. GIL -LRB- V.O. -RRB- Boy, I'd drop the house in Beverly Hills, the pool, everything - in a heartbeat. Look - this is where Monet lived and painted - we're thirty minutes from town. Imagine the two of us settling here. If my book turns out we could do it - you could just as easily make jewelry here.

EXT. MONET'S GARDENS - DAY INEZ -LRB- V.O. -RRB- You're in love with a fantasy. Now we CUT AROUND and see Gil and Inez live. GIL I'm in love with you. -LRB- kiss. -RRB-

INT/EXT. HOTEL LOBBY - DAY Gil and Inez enter lobby of hotel they are all at. In the lobby they are awaited by her parents, JOHN and HELEN BLAIR. JOHN There are our sight - seers. INEZ If I never see another charming boulevard or bistro - GIL What a town. HELEN To visit. GIL I could easily see myself as a Parisien - strolling the Left Bank - a baguette under my arm - finishing my novel - at a table at the Cafe Flore. A Moveable Feast - Hemingway called it. HELEN In this traffic nothing moves. GIL Well yes it was different then. JOHN Can we continue this talk of moveable feasts at Grand Vefour because I'm starved. GIL Americans eat dinner so early. JOHN And I'm proud of it.

INT. GRAND VEFOUR RESTAURANT - NIGHT HELEN -LRB- lifting wine glass. -RRB- A toast to John's new business venture here. JOHN Well I'll be perfectly frank - I'm excited over this corporate merger between our people and the French company but otherwise I'm not a big Francophile. HELEN John hates their politics. JOHN They've certainly been no friend to the united States. GIL -LRB- amiably. -RRB- You ca n't say they were n't right in not backing Bush's moronic war in Iraq. INEZ Please let's not get into that discussion yet again? GIL There's nothing wrong with your father and I disagreeing. That's what democracy is. Your father defends the right wing of the Republican party and I happen to think they represent sub - mental Neanderthals. But we respect each other's views - am I right? -LRB- this last directed at John gets no enthusiasm but a cold look from him. -RRB- HELEN Can we discuss the wedding plans? Your father's used his good offices with the opera to get some of the singers to attend and sing. I thought Puccini would be nice. INEZ Is n't that great Gil? GIL Just no Wagner. When she walks down the aisle not The Ride of the Valkyries. Hey look, I just want to say that I am politically bipartisan in that, in my view, to be a politician of any party one must of necessity be a whore. INEZ Gil. Just then another young couple pass the table and recognize Inez. PAUL and CAROL BATES. PAUL Inez. INEZ Paul! Carol -. -LRB- ad - lib introductions. -RRB- Paul and Carol Bates - Mom, Dad, you know Gil - you did n't mention you'd be here. CAROL It was sudden. Paul got invited to lecture at the Sorbonne. INEZ Oh - how terrific. Dad's here on business and we free - loaded along. PAUL It's great. We can spend some time together. GIL Do n't we have a lot of commitments? INEZ What? CAROL What are you doing tomorrow? We're driving to Versailles. INEZ I'm dying to see Versailles. GIL Do n't we have something tomorrow? We were going to have lunch at the Brasserie Lipp. My old professor once actually saw James Joyce there. He said Joyce was eating sauerkraut and frankfurters. -LRB- silent pause. -RRB- INEZ Is that the end of the story? GIL It is actually - INEZ We'd love to go with you guys. Versailles is beautiful - I have to see it Gil - it's perfect for you with your obsession with `` les temps perdus'' · GIL Yes - but - PAUL It's such a lovely treat running into you here. A demain.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT INEZ -LRB- as they do their nocturnal ablutions. -RRB- I hope you're not going to be as anti - social tomorrow when we go to Versailles. GIL How was I anti - social? INEZ It was so clear you did n't want to go. GIL Well they're your friends and I ca n't say I'm as taken with him as you are. INEZ He's brilliant. I used to have such a crush on him at college. And Carol's very bright. GIL I find him a pseudo - intellectual. INEZ I hardly think the Sorbo nne would have him lecturing if he's a pseudo - intellectual. You should give him your novel to read. I'm sure he'd be able to critique your writing and show you why you're having so much trouble. GIL I'm having trouble because I'm a Hollywood hack who never gave actual literature a real shot. INEZ -LRB- said with her usual seductiveness. -RRB- Gil, promise me if this book does n't come off you'll give up beating your brains out and get back to what you do best. The studios adore you - you're in demand - I do n't think you want to trade everything just to struggle.

EXT. VERSAILLES - DAY Next day. The two couples are there and Paul waxes pedantically as they tour the grounds or inside. PAUL I believe Louis moved his court here in about 1682 - originally this was all swamp land - in fact, if I'm not mistaken, in old French the word Versailles means something like `` terrain where the weeds have been pulled''. The main structure is French classical style at its height - the work, I believe of Louis Le Vau, I think Mansart and Charles LeBrun I believe.

EXT. VERSAILLES/PICTURESQUE SPOT/GARDEN - DAY INEZ I think I could get used to a summer home like this. PAUL Me too except, remember, in those days they only had baths and I'm definitely a shower man. CAROL Where are you two planning to live after the wedding? INEZ We're looking in Malibu. We love where you live. GIL I keep trying to talk her into a little attic with a skylight in Paris - CAROL La Boheme. PAUL All that's missing is tuberculosis. INEZ He does n't even know if he can write a novel. So far your track record's - you know - whereas, everyone likes your movies - GIL Yes movie scripts are easier. INEZ Tell them about the lead character in the book you're working on. GIL I do n't like to discuss my work. INEZ Not the plot, just the lead character. He works in a nostalgia shop. CAROL What's a nostalgia shop? PAUL Not one of those stores that sells Shirley Temple dolls and old radios? I never know who buys that stuff - who'd want it. INEZ -LRB- pointedly. -RRB- People who live in the past. Who think their lives would have been happier if they lived in an earlier time. PAUL And just what era would you have preferred to live in, Miniver Cheevy? INEZ -LRB- teasing Gil. -RRB- Paris in the twenties - in the rain - when the rain was n't acid rain. PAUL I see. And no global warming, no TV or suicide bombing, nuclear weapons, drug cartels. CAROL The usual menu of cliched horror stories. PAUL Nostalgia is denial. Denial of the painful present. INEZ He's a romantic. Gil would be just fine living in a perpetual state of denial. PAUL The name for this fallacy is called, Golden Age thinking. INEZ Touche. PAUL The erroneous notion that a different time period was better than the one, one's living in. It's a flaw in the romantic imagination of those who find coping with the present too difficult.

EXT. CHOPARD/PLACE VENDOME - DAY HELEN It's definitely the nicest ring we've seen. INEZ I love a diamond wedding band. The way it sparkled they'll see it in the last row when he puts it on my finger. HELEN This is going to be such an event, Inez. I only wish - INEZ -LRB- cutting her off. -RRB- I do n't want to keep going over it, Mom. HELEN Look, he's your choice. What can I say? INEZ Gil's smart and successful. HELEN And yet he talks of g1.v1.ng it up and moving here. That frightens me. INEZ The world is full of people who dream of writing the great American novel. Let me handle him. HELEN You're father thinks you're comfortable with Gil because you can control him. INEZ He likes to please me - is that so terrible? Oh gosh - I have to go - Paul arranged a private tour of the Rodin Museum.

EXT. RODIN MUSEUM GARDEN - DAY Paul, Carol, Gil and Inez getting guided tour. Guide speaks French and mostly English - as she feels. GUIDE This is, of course, Rodin's most famous statue. A cast of this work was placed next to his tomb. Rodin wished for it to serve as his headstone and epitaph. PAUL That would be in Meudon. He died of the flu if I'm not mistaken - 1917 I believe. GUIDE Exactly correct. You know your art history, monsieur. The design - PAUL -LRB- cutting her off. -RRB- The Thinker is so powerful because he thinks not just with his brain - he thinks with every limb and muscle - you feel the concentration. INEZ -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- He's so knowledgeable, is n't he? PAUL So much of Rodin's work was influenced by his wife, Camille. GUIDE Yes, she was an influence - though Camille was not the wife but his mistress. PAUL Camille? No. GUIDE Yes. Rose was the wife. PAUL He never married Rose. GUIDE Yes, in the last year of their lives. PAUL I think you're mistaken. CAROL Are you arguing with the guide? PAUL I am. GUIDE Ah, non, non, je suis certaine. GIL I'm afraid she's right. I just read the recent two volume biography of Rodin - Rose was definitely the wife, Camille the mistress. PAUL You read that? Where did you read that? GIL I did - no question. Camille - Rose. INEZ Do n't forget, Dad invited you to join us at a wine tasting tonight. CAROL It'll be so fun. Paul's an expert on French wines. INEZ -LRB- walking with Gil. -RRB- When did you read the biography of Rodin? GIL Me? Why would I read a biography of Rodin?

EXT. WINE TASTING - EVENING Inez already a little high. Her parents having fun. Gil is also feeling it by now. INEZ -LRB- tasting. -RRB- I ca n't tell the difference. They're both delicious. JOHN Take it easy Inez. Those little sips add up. HELEN You should talk, John - especially for someone who once advocated the boycott of french wines. JOHN I'll always take a California wine but the Napa Valley is six thousand miles away. They laugh and drink. INEZ -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- Which do you prefer? GIL To me they're all great. What the hell do I know? INEZ I do n't think I've ever seen your cheeks so red. GIL Pheromones, it's your pheromones. Paul and Carol have ambled over, having heard Gil's last amorous remark. PAUL Ah yes - sex and alcohol - It fuels the desire but kills the performance - according to the Bard. CAROL Have you tasted the' 61? It's divine - though Paul found it - what? PAUL Slightly more tannic than the' 59. I prefer a smoky feeling to a fruity feeling, do n't you agree? GIL You will admit she's a sexy woman. PAUL This I have known for many years. You're a very lucky man. -LRB- toast. -RRB- May you make the transition from movies to literature and may your book glorify all the Shirley Temple dolls and Charlie Chaplin wristwatches that make us nostalgic for an allegedly once simpler, more charming world. GIL -LRB- a bit high. -RRB- To the little green Heinz pickle pin.

EXT. WINE TASTING/STREET - NIGHT PAUL Carol and I are going to go dancing we heard of a great place. Interested? INEZ Sure. GIL I do n't want to be a party pooper but I just want fresh air. INEZ Oh come on - although if you're just going to sit there and obsess over where the fire exits are. CAROL If Gil does n't want to go, I'll share Paul with you. I'm very democratic. And he's a marvelous dancer. GIL If it's okay with you, I'd really just like a little walk and go to bed. We can do it another night. INEZ Well I can go, right? GIL You go? INEZ I'm not tired and I'm dying to dance. I'll just meet you back at the hotel. PAUL I'll take good care of her. GIL I - I - guess so.

INT. TAXI - NIGHT The three are having a fine time. INEZ Is n't it great we're all on holiday at the same time. CAROL Back home we just joined a marvelous tennis club and Paul says you play. Does Gil? INEZ I ca n't introduce him to tennis - Daddy's having the damndest time pressuring him to learn golf. PAUL Is he a good writer? Have you read his prose? INEZ He wo n't let anybody - PAUL If he wants I'd be glad to go over his novel and critique it for him. INEZ That's what he needs, to have it read by someone who really knows and would n't pull any punches. The problem is - when it comes to his writing he has no respect for anyone's opinion.

EXT. STREET - NIGHT Gil walks street, obviously lost.

EXT. LOVELY SPOT - NIGHT Gil wanders. Eventually he is at a lovely spot. Perhaps by the river, the bridge - or somewhere else but he's just wandering lost. Finally he looks at his watch. Either by his watch or a nearby building clock, the hands move to exactly midnight. perhaps midnight chimes somewhere. At precisely that moment a car happens to pull up along side him. Inside are TWO MEN and TWO WOMAN - elegant - they have champagne and glasses and they pour from the open bottle and drink happily. DOUG Come on - get in. GIL Huh? DENISE -LRB- speaking with French accent. -RRB- Let's go, we're late. GIL You have the wrong person. DENISE Mais non, pas de tout - allez montez - GIL Look, I'm a little drunk - DOUG C'mon - for god's sake - we ca n't sit here all night. GIL This is a great old peugeot. I have a friend in Beverly Hills who has the same one - he collects - DENISE Let's go. -LRB- dragging him in. -RRB- We have so many parties to go to. GIL What parties? DOUG a Venez - la prochain gauche. DENISE Here - you need some champagne - Gil gets in. They shut door and pull off.

INT/EXT. CAR - NIGHT GIL Where are we going? PHIL 36 rue de. -LRB- tbd address. -RRB- and lets hurry. GIL It's not fair - my head is swimming from wine. DENISE -LRB- refilling glass of champagne. -RRB- Prenez du champagne - detendez - vous un peu. GIL I do like champagne. DENISE The night is young - drink up, drink up, drink up. GIL I'm drinking up. He drinks, befuddled.

EXT. LEFT BANK STREET - NIGHT Car pulling up at some great old street. They all get out and take him inside to a party in progress.

INT. PARTY - NIGHT There is a mixture of elegant plus bohemian types. In the background a MAN sits at the piano singing a Cole Porter tune. Gil looks at the revelers. A few CUTS. Music plays. Finally A WOMAN comes over to Gil. ZELDA -LRB- glass in hand drinking. -RRB- You look lost. GIL You're American. ZELDA If you count Alabama as America which I do. I miss the bathtub gin. What do you do? GIL Oh I - I'm a writer. ZELDA What do you write? GIL Right now I'm working on a novel. ZELDA Oh yes? I'm Zelda by the way. Oh Scott - Scott come over here. Here's a writer from, where? GIL California. SCOTT -LRB- Scott joins. -RRB- Scott Fitzgerald, and who are you old sport? GIL I'm Gil Pen - oh you two have the same names as - SCOTT As what? GIL Scott Fitzgerald and - SCOTT -LRB- drinking. -RRB- Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The Fitzgeralds. Is n't she beautiful? GIL Yes - its a coincidence. I mean it is a funny coincidence. ZELDA You have a glazed look in your eye. Stunned, stupefied, anesthetized, lobotomized - GIL I - I - I keep thinking that man at the piano - believe it or not I recognize his face from some old sheet music - what am I talking about here? ZELDA I know if I put my mind to it I could be one of the great writers of musical lyrics not that I can write melodies - and I try - and then I hear the songs he writes and I realize I'll never write a great lyric and that my talent really lies in drinking. GIL Yes but - he did n't write that song - did he? That's not possible - SCOTT What kind of books do you write? GIL I - I - I - I'm - I'm working on a - exactly where am I? SCOTT I'm sorry - Do n't you know the host? Some friends have gotten together a little party for Jean Cocteau. GIL -LRB- looks around, drinks it in. -RRB- Hey lady, are you kidding me? ZELDA I know what you're thinking - this is boring - I agree - I'm ready to move on - let's do Bricktop's, Scott, I'm bored, he's bored, we're all bored. SCOTT Whatever you say, sweetheart. See if Cole and Linda want to come with. Coming? Gil stares open mouthed.

INT/EXT. CAR - NIGHT Shot of group -LRB- Gil, Cole Porter, Fitzgeralds -RRB- piled into period open top car tearing down a Parisian street. -LRB- Note : we can include Denise and Doug or Phil if we want -RRB-

INT. BRICKTOP'S CLUB - NIGHT The group is watching someone like Josephine Baker. Gil is stunned by it all. The Fitzgerald's drink a lot.

EXT. CAFE #3 - NIGHT Group entering cafe.

INT. CAFE #3 - NIGHT A little late night cafe, very bohemian. Scott, Zelda and Gil enter, the group having thinned out. The Fitzgeralds drink a lot. ZELDA Une bouteille de bourbon. SCOTT -LRB- stops at another table. -RRB- Greetings and salutations. You'll forgive me - I've been mixing grain and grappa. This is Gil - Gil? Yes, Gil. GIL Gil Pender. HEMINGWAY Hemingway. GIL Hemingway? Hey, is this some kind of a - HEMINGWAY You liked my book? GIL Liked - I loved - everything you wrote - HEMINGWAY Yes it was a good book because it was an honest book and that's what war does to men and there's nothing fine and noble about dying in the mud unless you die gracefully and then it's not only noble but brave. GIL Ernest Hemingway - this is - I - HEMINGWAY -LRB- introduces his drinking partner. -RRB- Say hello to Pender - the bulls in the ring do n't frighten Belmonte - he's killed many brave ones. Fine brave bulls. GIL I'm sure - good bulls, true bulls. HEMINGWAY Why are you smiling? SCOTT -LRB- drinks. -RRB- In New York you ca n't buy this - it can only be made in a bathtub - and some of the bathtub mixtures are damn good -. -LRB- to Zelda. -RRB- Is n't that so? She prefers her hootch from a homemade still - more kick. ZELDA -LRB- to Hemingway. -RRB- Did you read my story? What did you think? HEMINGWAY It began well - really well - then it became weak. ZELDA I might've known you'd hate it. SCOTT Darling you're too sensitive. ZELDA You liked the story but he hates me. HEMINGWAY There was some fine writing but it was not fulfilled. SCOTT Please old sport - you make matters extremely difficult. ZELDA I'm jumpy - suddenly I do n't like the atmosphere here anymore. -LRB- to Belmonte. -RRB- Where are you going? JUAN BELMONTE Para reunirse con amigos en el St. Germain. ZELDA He's going to St. Germain. I'm going with him. SCOTT Zelda - ZELDA If you're going to stay and drink with him I'm going with the toreador. SCOTT -LRB- to a polite Belmonte. -RRB- Get her back at a reasonable time. They go. HEMINGWAY She'll drive you crazy, this woman. SCOTT She's exciting - and she has talent. HEMINGWAY This month it's writing, last month it was something else. You're a writer - you need time to write - not all this playing around - she's wasting you - because she's really a competitor - do n't you agree? GIL Me? I just met - HEMINGWAY Speak up for Christ's sake. I'm asking you if you think my friend is making a tragic mistake. GIL Actually I do n't know the Fitzgeralds that well - HEMINGWAY You're a writer - you make observations - you were with them all night. SCOTT Can we not discuss my personal life in public? HEMINGWAY She has him on yachts, at parties, jumping into swimming pools you're wasting your talent. SCOTT You do n't understand her. HEMINGWAY -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- She's jealous of his gift and it's a damn fine gift. It's rare. You like his work? You can speak freely. SCOTT Stop it. HEMINGWAY You like Mark Twain? GIL I do - very much. SCOTT I'm going to find Zelda. I do n't like the thought of her with the Spaniard. -LRB- stumbles out. -RRB- HEMINGWAY He's a fine writer, Fitzgerald. You box? GIL No. HEMINGWAY What are you writing? GIL A novel. HEMINGWAY About what? GIL A man who works in a nostalgia shop. HEMINGWAY What the hell's a nostalgia shop? GIL Where they sell old things - memorabilia. Does that sound terrible to you? HEMINGWAY No subject is terrible if the story is true. If the prose is clean and honest and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure. GIL Would you do me the biggest favor in the world - I ca n't even ask. HEMINGWAY What? GIL Would you read it? HEMINGWAY Your novel? GIL It's only about four hundred pages - if you could just give me your opinion. HEMINGWAY My opinion is I hate it. GIL You do? HEMINGWAY If it's bad I'll hate it because I hate bad writing and if it's good I'll be envious and hate it all the more. You do n't want the opinion of another writer. GIL But there's no one I really trust to evaluate it - HEMINGWAY Writers are competitive. GIL I could never compete with you - HEMINGWAY You're too self - effacing - it's not manly. If you're a writer, declare yourself the best writer - but you're not the best as long as I'm around. Unless you want to put the gloves on and settle it. GIL No - no - that's okay - HEMINGWAY I wo n't read your novel but I'll tell you what I'll do. GIL Yes? HEMINGWAY I'll bring it over to Gertrude Stein. She's the only one I trust to read my work. No one discovers new talent like Gert - whether it's poetry, painting, music - She'll tell you if you have a book or not. GIL You could have Gertrude Stein read my novel? HEMINGWAY Give it to me. GIL I have to get it. It's at the hotel. HEMINGWAY She gets back from Spain tomorrow. GIL -LRB- rises. -RRB- I'm so thrilled - my heart is beating. I'll go home and get it - I'll give it to you - I ca n't tell you what this means to me. To have Gertrude Stein read my novel - thank you, thank you - He exits the place.

EXT. CAFE #3 - NIGHT GIL Calm yourself - get a grip, Gil - deep breaths - been quite a night - Fitzgerald - Hemingway - the Hemingway - Papa - where do I meet him - he never said. Gil goes to return to the cafe - he ca n't find the door, nor the club facade. It's gone. We are in the present and he searches the wall of a facade where he came out but he is in despair over the fact he ca n't find it.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Next morning. Gil and Inez probably dressing. INEZ Lucky you did n't go last night. You'd have hated the music and the crowd - but I had fun. GIL Uh - huh. INEZ What are you thinking? You seem in a daze. GIL If I told you I was with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald last night, what would you say? INEZ Is that what you were dreaming about? Your literary idols. GIL But if I was n't dreaming - INEZ What does that mean? GIL If I told you I spent time with Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Cole Porter - INEZ I'd be thinking brain tumor. GIL Can I tell you Zelda Fitzgerald is exactly as we've come to know her from articles and books - she's mercurial and moody and she does not get along with Hemingway - and Scott knows Hemingway's right about it but you can see how conflicted he is because he loves her - INEZ Right, right - er where's my cold cream - we should knock off the idle chatter because we're going to be late. GIL Actually I wanted to stay and work on my novel - it needs a little polishing. INEZ You can work on it later. And we can use Mom's decorator's discount.

INT. ANTIQUE STORE - DAY Helen, Inez and Gil in antique store. HELEN Come look at this Inez - would n't this be charming for a Malibu beach house? OWNER Dix - huit mille. HELEN -LRB- to Inez. -RRB- It's a steal at eighteen thousand dollars. GIL Eighteen thousand dollars? HELEN Oh wait, that's Euros so it's more - INEZ That's over twenty thousand dollars, Mom. HELEN Yes but it's very hard to find anything like this at home. INEZ She's right, Gil. GIL Yes but we have n't even found a house yet and I'm trying to keep expenses down so I can turn down jobs. HELEN You get what you pay for. Cheap is cheap. GIL I know you love Malibu but - INEZ -LRB- sotto seductively. -RRB- Did you ever make love in a chaise like this? Imagine the possibilities. GIL Er - of course when you think of it that way it does help amortize the eighteen grand. HELEN And do n't forget - we're taking you to dinner tonight at. -LRB- * tbd. -RRB-. INEZ Great. GIL -LRB- sotto to Inez. -RRB- And after I have a terrific surprise for you. INEZ What? I'm not big on surprises. GIL You will be. Believe me. HELEN Look at these marvelous Blackamoors. I see them in your living room.

EXT. LOVELY SPOT - NIGHT Gil and Inez arriving at the spot he was picked up by car. He waits nervously. INEZ Where are you taking me? You made me rush through dinner. Dad was n't finished with his profiteroles. GIL You're going on one of the most amazing adventures of your life. INEZ Where? And why are you carrying around your manuscript. GIL You'll see - you'll see - and your jaw will drop.

EXT. LOVELY SPOT - NIGHT They're still waiting with nothing happening. Cars pass but no action. INEZ I do n't know what it is you're carrying on about but this is not my idea of an amazing adventure. I'm exhausted from the gym and the massage. GIL Inez. INEZ Look - you want to walk the streets and `` drink in Paris by night'' - go ahead. I'm in the middle of a great book Carol lent me and if I'm asleep when you get in, do n't wake me. -LRB- she gets in cab. -RRB- GIL -LRB- to himself. -RRB- What am I doing wrong? Unless she's right and I need to see a neurologist. Left the wine tasting - a little high yes - right here. The clock begins to chime midnight. GIL -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- I remember the river - the clock struck midnight - I - the clock struck midnight! Yes - On the dot of midnight I He looks at his watch which obviously confirms the chimes he hears. The period car comes - the door opens. We hear Hemingway'S voice : HEMINGWAY -LRB- V. o. -RRB- Get in. Gil gets in, car pulls off

INT/EXT. CAR - NIGHT Only Gil and Hemingway. HEMINGWAY The assignment was to take the hill. There were four of us. Five if you counted Vincente but he had lost his hand when a grenade went off and he could n't fight as he could when I first met him and he was young and brave and the hill was soggy from days of rain and sloped down toward a road and there were many German soldiers on the road and the idea was to aim at the first group and if our aim was true we could delay them. GIL Were n't you scared? HEMINGWAY Of what? GIL Getting killed. HEMINGWAY You'll never write well if you fear dying. Do you? GIL It's my biggest fear. HEMINGWAY But it's something all men before you have done and all men will do. GIL Yes but - HEMINGWAY Have you ever made love to a truly great woman? GIL My fiance is very sexy. HEMINGWAY And when you make love to her you feel true and beautiful passion and you at least for that moment lose your fear of death. GIL I do n't know about that - HEMINGWAY I believe that love that's true and real creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well which is the same thing and when the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face like some rhino hunters I know or Belmonte who is truly brave, it is because they love with sufficient passion to push death out of their minds till it returns as it does to all men and then you must make really good love again. Think about it.

EXT. GERTRUDE STEIN'S PLACE - NIGHT Shot of them arriving at Gertrude Stein's.

INT. GERTRUDE STEIN'S PLACE - NIGHT They enter. HEMINGWAY This is Gil Pender. He's a young American writer. I thought you two should know each other. STEIN I'm glad you're here. You can help decide which of us is right and which of us is wrong. She leads them into other room, introduces Gil. STEIN -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- This is Gil - GIL Pender. STEIN Pablo Picasso. They ad - lib greetings. Picasso speaks French and is with a beautiful girl - Adriana. STEIN I was just telling Pablo that this portrait does n't capture Adriana. It has universality but no objectivity. PABLO Vous ne le comprenez pas correctment. Vous ne connaissez pas Adriana mais c'est tout ce qui la represente. STEIN No tu n' a pas raison. Look how he's done her - dripping with sexual innuendo. Carnal to the point of smoldering and yes she's beautiful but it's a subtle beauty - an implied sensuality. -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- What is your first impression of Adriana? GIL -LRB- very taken. -RRB-. · · Exceptionally lovely. STEIN Belle, mais plus subtil plus implicite, Pablo. HEMINGWAY You're right Gertrude - of course you can see why he's lost his objectivity. -LRB- flirting with her. -RRB- STEIN You've made a creation of Place Pigalle, a whore with volcanic appetites. PABLO Mais c'est comme elle est, si vous la connaissez. STEIN Yes - avec vous en prive - because she's your lover - but we do n't know her that way - so you make a petit bourgeoise judgment and turn her into an object of pleasure. C'est plus comme une nature morte qu'on portrait. It's more like a still life than a portrait. PABLO -LRB- waves her off and goes to get a drink. -RRB- Je ne suis pas d'accord. STEIN -LRB- turning to Gil. -RRB- And what about this book of yours I've been hearing about? -LRB- to Hemingway. -RRB- Have you read it? HEMINGWAY No, this I leave to you. You've always been the best judge of my work. STEIN -LRB- thumbing first page, she reads. -RRB- `` Out of the Past was the name of the store and its products consisted of memories. What was prosaic and even vulgar to one generation had been transmuted by the mere passing of years to a status at once magical and also camp.'' ADRIANA I love it. I'm already - hooked? Hooked. STEIN I'll start it tonight. But first we have something to talk about. She collars Hemingway and they huddle to one side. Picasso has busied himself at a distant spot with a drink, sulking. This leaves Gil off with Adriana to chat. GIL Did my opening lines really get to you that strongly? ADRIANA The past has always had a great charisma for me. GIL Me too. I was born too late. ADRIANA Oui, exactement. For me Belle Epoque Paris would have been perfect. The whole sensibility, the street lamps, the kiosks - the horse and carriages. And Maxims - then. GIL You speak very good English. ADRIANA No, not really. GIL Yes - and how long have you been dating Picasso? My god, did I say that? ADRIANA Pardon. GIL Oh - I - no, I did n't mean anything - you know - to pry. born in Paris? ADRIANA I was born in Bordeaux - I moved here to study fashion and - you do n't want to hear this - GIL No, I do. ADRIANA I came here - to study with Coco Chanel - and I fell in love with Paris and also a very dark eyed, haunted, Jewish - Italian painter - and I knew Amedeo had another woman but still I could n't resist moving into his apartment when he asked and it was a beautiful six months. GIL Not Modigliani? Was it Modigliani? You lived with Modigliani? ADRIANA You asked me so I'm telling you my sad story. With Braque also there was another woman - many - and now with Pablo - I mean Pablo is married but every day it's on again, off again - I do n't know how any woman can stay with him - he's so difficult. GIL My god you are a whole different level of art groupie. ADRIANA Pardon. GIL Nothing - I'm - ADRIANA But tell me about yourself. Have you come to Paris to write because these days so many Americans feel the need to move here. Is n't Hemingway attractive? I love his writing. GIL Actually I'm visiting. ADRIANA Oh you must stay here. It's a wonderful city for artists and writers. GIL Believe me, I want to but it's not that simple. ADRIANA And I did fall madly in love with the start of your book so I want to hear the rest of it. Hemingway and Stein return. HEMINGWAY Come, let's all go for a drink up at Montmartre. STEIN We'll discuss your book as soon as I finish it. Where can I reach you? GIL Oh that's okay - I'll drop by - it'll be easier for you - if that's okay. STEIN We run an open house. ADRIANA You sure you wo n't come? GIL -LRB- checks watch. -RRB- I only wish I could but I ca n't - but hopefully I'll see you again - ADRIANA That would be nice. Hemingway, Picasso and Adriana are going off - Hemingway flirtatious with her. HEMINGWAY -LRB- teasing Picasso. -RRB- One of these days I plan to steal you away from this genius who's great but no Miro.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT Gil gets into bed with Inez. She's asleep and he lies awake thinking. He pinches himself to make sure he's awake. GIL -LRB- to himself. -RRB- I'm Gil Pender - I was with Hemingway and Picasso - Pablo Picasso - Ernest Hemingway - I'm Gil Pender from Pasadena - the Cub Scouts - I failed freshman English - I'm Gil Pender and my novel is with Gertrude Stein - I once worked at The House of Pies. I'm little Gil Pender. And that girl was so lovely.

EXT. FLEA MARKET - DAY Gil, Inez and Helen. HELEN It's a shame you two did n't come to the movies last night. We saw a wonderfully funny American film. I forget the name. GIL Wonderful but forgettable. I've seen that picture. HELEN I know it was moronic and infantile and lacking any wit or believability but John and I laughed in spite of ourselves. INEZ What time did you get in? I was dead asleep. GIL Not late. I find these midnight strolls are very good for me creatively - without the distractions of the day - I'll probably take another long walk tonight. INEZ We'll see. Oh how about this? HELEN Oh look at these wonderful glass figures. As they're preoccupied, Gil is caught up by a woman who plays some old 78 records on an old phonograph and she's playing the Cole Porter tune Cole was playing the other night. GABRIELLE C'est jolie, no. GIL Yes - very beautiful. GABRIELLE Cole Porter. Vous aimez - you like Cole Porter? GIL Love his music - we're very close - Cole, Linda and I. She gives him a look. GABRIELLE Very pretty and tres amusant. He listens. Inez comes over. INEZ Gil - Gil - Gil? GIL -LRB- coming out if, realizing she's been talking to him. -RRB- Huh? INEZ We should go. We're meeting Paul and Carol for a private showing at the museum. GIL With the same sharp guide? INEZ It's a different museum and we do n't need a guide. Paul's an expert on Monet. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- INEZ -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- We can see all those beautiful water lilies at his home.

INT. L'ORANGERIE MUSEUM - DAY Paul, Carol, Inez and Gil in circular room with huge Monets. PAUL The juxtaposition of color is amazing. This man was the real father of abstract expressionism. I take that back, maybe Turner. INEZ I prefer Monet. I mean I love Turner but this is overwhelming. PAUL If I'm not mistaken it took him two years to complete this. And he worked out at Giverny - where he frequently - GIL They say Monet used to - INEZ Shhh. I want to hear what Paul's saying. PAUL He was frequently visited by Caillebotte - an artist I personally feel was underrated. CAROL I find Monet almost too pretty - like Renoir - sometimes it's cloying.

INT. ANOTHER FLOOR OF THE MUSEUM - DAY                        A36 PAUL -LRB- coming to Picasso's portrait of Adriana. -RRB- Ah - now here's a superb Picasso. Gil is stunned. PAUL -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- If I'm not mistaken he painted this marvelous portrait of his French mistress Madeline Brissou in the twenties. GIL Er - I have to differ with you on this one. PAUL Really? INEZ Gil pay attention and you'll learn something. GIL If I'm not mistaken this was a failed attempt to capture a young French girl named Adriana - from Bordeaux - if my art history serves me - came to Paris to study costume design for the theatre. Believe she had a brief affair with Modigliani - then Braque - that's where Pablo met her - er Picasso. You'd never know it from this portrait but she's quite subtly beautiful. INEZ What have you been smoking? GIL And I'd hardly call the picture superb. It's more of a petit bourgeoise statement of how Pablo er Picasso sees her, saw her - he's distracted by the fact she was a volcano in the sack.

INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT John, Helen and Inez finishing fancy dinner. JOHN Too rich for me. HELEN Where did Gil run off to? INEZ Work - he likes to walk around Paris - the way the city is all lit up at night allegedly inspires him - It's okay. Paul and I are going dancing. HELEN Where's Carol? INEZ In bed with a bad oyster. -LRB- rising. -RRB- See you later. Thanks for dinner Dad. She exits. JOHN Where does Gil go every night? HELEN You heard her. He walks and gets ideas. JOHN Uh - huh. HELEN You sound skeptical. JOHN I do n't know. I see what he earns but sometimes I think he's got a part missing. And I did n't like his remark about tea party Republicans. They're decent people who want to take back the country - they're not crypto - fascist, airhead zombies. Did you hear him say that? HELEN Nevertheless I hardly think your idea of having him followed is practical. JOHN No? I'd like to know where he goes every night. HELEN Well we know one thing - he does n't go dancing.

INT. FITZGERALD'S PARTY - NIGHT Gil dancing with a woman at Fitzgerald's party. He stops finally and Adriana wanders over. ADRIANA Hello again? How nice you're here. GIL I was at Gertrude Stein's - she's almost finished with my novel. And the Fitzgeralds invited me over and said you'd be here - you and Pablo. ADRIANA Pablo's home - we had a bit of a quarrel. But you looked like you were having fun dancing with Djuna Barnes. GIL That was Djuna Barnes? No wonder she wanted to lead. ADRIANA Is n't this a wonderful place to throw a party - only the Fitzgeralds would think of it. Look - this is from the turn of the century. Everything was so beautiful then. Hemingway coming over now. He squeezes Adriana playfully flirtatious. HEMINGWAY Is n't this little Parisienne dream a movable feast? Mark my words - I'm going to steal you from that fugitive from Malaga one way or the other. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- HEMINGWAY -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- -LRB- referring to his companion of the moment. -RRB- Between Belmonte and myself - which of us would you choose? ADRIANA Vous etes tous deux tres impressionants. HEMINGWAY But he has more courage. He faces death more directly and more often and if you chose him I would be disappointed but understand. JUAN BELMONTE Por desgracia para ambos ella ha elegido Pablo. HEMINGWAY Yes, she's chosen Picasso - But Pablo thinks women are only to paint or sleep with. ADRIANA And you? HEMINGWAY I think women are the equal of men in courage. Have you ever shot a charging lion? ADRIANA Never. HEMINGWAY Have you ever hunted? -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- Have you? GIL Only for bargains. BELMONTE -LRB- to Hemingway. -RRB- venga - tomemos otra copa. GIL -LRB- to Adriana. -RRB- Would you like to maybe take a walk?

EXT. PLACE DAUPHINE - NIGHT Gil and Adriana walk. GIL I hope it was nothing serious with you and Pablo? ADRIANA He's moody and possessive. Artists are all like children. GIL I understand why they all want to paint you - you're so damn interesting to look at in a lovely way. ADRIANA And you're interesting in a lost way. Tell me more about your book. GIL I do n't want to talk about my book. I want to enjoy Paris by night. ADRIANA I keep forgetting, you're only a tourist. GIL That's putting it mildly.

EXT. MONTAGE/PARIS - NIGHT Adriana is showing him around. ADRIANA I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night. GIL There's no book or painting, or symphony or sculpture that can rival a great city. All these streets and boulevards as a special art form. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- GIL -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- When you think in the cold, violent, meaningless universe Paris exists - these lights - I mean nothing's happening on Jupiter or Neptune or out beyond - but from way out in space you can see these lights in the whole dark void - the cafes, people drinking and dancing - I mean for all we know this town is the hottest spot in the entire universe - ADRIANA Vous avez l'ame d'un poete. GIL You're very kind. I would not call my babbling poetic. OMITTED

EXT. PLACE PIGALLE - NIGHT Gil and Adriana are here with the street lined with prostitutes. ADRIANA See anything you like? GIL I'm ashamed to admit I'm attracted to all of them. I like cheap - sexy. I know it's shallow. ADRIANA When I was in Catholic school, one weekend, my roommate and I paid one of the girls of Pigalle to come teach us all her tricks. GIL Well, that's the most interesting thing I've ever heard in my life - I'd like to think about that for awhile.

EXT. RIVER - NIGHT Gil and Adriana walking by the river. ADRIANA I love that the main character in your book sells memories. GIL Because he believes in his soul that progress is not automatically for the better. ADRIANA Often quite the opposite. GIL Say - is that who I think it is? ADRIANA What is she doing here? And why is she staring into the river. They see a distraught woman contemplating jumping into the river. Upon running to her, it's Zelda. ADRIANA Oh gosh! My god - what are you doing? ZELDA Please leave me alone. I do n't want to live. ADRIANA What is it? What's going on? ZELDA It all became clear to me tonight. Scott and that beautiful Countess - it was so obvious they were whispering about me and the more they drank the more he fell in love with her. GIL Scott loves only you. I can tell you with absolute certainty. ZELDA No, he's tired of me. GIL No you're wrong. I know. ZELDA How? How? GIL Trust me. I know. ZELDA But you just met us. How can you know anything. My skin hurts. I hate the way I look. GIL Take this. -LRB- pill. -RRB- ZELDA What is this? GIL A Valium - it'll calm you down. ADRIANA You carry medicine? GIL Only since Inez and I became engaged. I've had these anxiety attacks - I'm sure after the wedding they'll subside. ZELDA I never heard of Valium. What is this? GIL Er - it's the pill of the future. ZELDA But pills wear off - and then it all comes back. No, I wo n't kill myself. I'll write and I'll write more passionately than Scott. I'll work harder. ADRIANA He loves you. He's not with that woman. She's already on her way back to Rome. GIL I'll try and score some more for you. And I have some Xanax at the hotel - it's another one you'll like. ADRIANA Come on, we'll find a taxi. We'll see you home - things will be better in the morning.

INT. BOHEMIAN CAFE - NIGHT ADRIANA You never said you were getting married. GIL Yes - I - I mean it's in the future. ADRIANA Well good luck with your book and your wedding. GIL You'd like Inez - she has a sharp sense of humor - and she's sexy - not that we agree on everything. ADRIANA But the important things. GIL Actually the small things - the important things we do n't - she'd like to live in Malibu and that I'd work in Hollywood - but I will say we both like - er - er Indian food - not all Indian food - pita bread - we both like pita bread - ADRIANA -LRB- rising. -RRB- I should go. Pablo will be missing me. GIL I'll walk you home - ADRIANA NO, no. Finish your drink. I live just around the corner. GIL No, I would n't think - ADRIANA I'd prefer to be by myself for awhile. Thank you for this evening. And she goes. He's stressed, thinks. Presently Salvador Dali comes to table. DALI We met earlier tonight. At the party. GIL Yes - I remember - DALI Dali - si? Dali! Dali! Une bouteille de vin rouge I waiter scurries for one. DALI -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- You like the shape of the rhinoceros? GIL A rhinoceros? I never thought about it. DALI I paint rhinoceros. I paint you - sad eyes - big lips - melting over hot sand - with one tear - yes - and in your tear - Christ's face. And rhinoceros. GIL I'm sure I look sad. I'm in a very perplexing situation. DALI Everyone is in perplexing situation - to be or not to be - this is ultimate perplexing question - you agree? Ah - here they are - Bufiuel, Man Ray enter and the table enlarges as they sit. Dali introduces them to Gil. GIL My god, I own a surrealist print - only a print by Magritte. DALI Pender - Pen - der - Pen - derrr - and I am Da - li. Pender is in perplexing situation. GIL It sounds so crazy when I say it and you'll think I'm drunk but I've got to tell someone I'm from a different time - a whole other era - the future - and I pass from the two thousandth millennium to here - a car picks me up - I slide through time - MAN RAY Exactly correct - you inhabit two worlds - so far I see nothing strange. GIL Look, you're sur - realists - but I'm a normal guy - See, in one life I'm engaged to marry a woman I love - at least I think I love her. Christ, I'm supposed to love her if I'm marrying her. DALI Love - the word love - love - the word love - same as the word rhinoceros - the rhinoceros makes love by mounting the female - but is there difference in beauty between two rhinoceroses? MAN RAY But there is nothing more sur - real than the human heart. DALI Past is also present. GIL In a dream - which is fine for you because you guys dabble in dreams. MAN RAY There is another woman? GIL Adriana is her name. And I felt drawn to her - but it would n't matter - men much greater than me, profound artists - she's drawn to geniuses - and they to her. DALI I see you with Christ - he is smiling while you are crucified on the heavy wooden cross of self - doubt. GIL Of course my biggest problem is reality. BuNuEL Reality is nothing more than a dream - we all exist in the dream of a dog. GIL I was born in the wrong time. DALI Time is all the mind. Time melts - the watches melt - the hands of the clock melt. MAN RAY A man in love with a woman from a different era. I see a photograph. BuNuEL I see a movie. GIL I see an insurmountable problem. DALI I see - a rhinoceros.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Next morning. Room service breakfast. INEZ Did you get much work done last night? GIL Er - some - yes - I'm beginning to think my book may be too realistic - that I've missed some chances to let my imagination run wild and not be so damn logical. INEZ Should n't we be getting dressed? GIL C'mere - you always look great in the morning. INEZ -LRB- she does. -RRB- We'll be late. GIL I have to work. I'm working like a demon but I ca n't resist you half dressed like that. INEZ Paul says we have to see the countryside. He's taking us for lunch at this beautiful little inn. I know you like making love in the morning but I find it much sexier late afternoon - just before we go out to dinner. Except I always have to explain to my parents why your cheeks look radiant. Hey - I'm not going to force you. I know you're hot on your writing. I'll be happy when you finish this book and move on.

EXT. RODIN MUSEUM GARDEN - DAY Gil is near The Kiss. He has tracked down the guide. GIL Hello - Bonjour - I'd like to ask you a question about Rodin. GUIDE Yes? GIL He loved his wife, he also loved his mistress - is it really possible to be in love with two women? GUIDE He loved both in different ways. GIL God it's so French. Er - you remember me? GUIDE I do. Qui - you were with the group, the pedantic gentleman. GIL Yeah, pedantic - perfect word. You're very observant. I need some advice. I'd like a woman's take. A French woman - an observant French woman. I met some woman that I very quickly became smitten with. Smitten? GUIDE Uh - huh. GIL I'm engaged to be married. I know Rodin had a wife and a mistress but I'm American - we ca n't handle that - we're monogamous. GUIDE You're engaged and you met a new woman - GIL Yes. Her name's Adriana. Right now she's living with Picas - with a Spaniard - er he paints - fairly well. · · GUIDE Yes - and does she love him? Or you? GIL Love him or me? Well I hardly think, me. But we've just met. See, another very gifted man flirts with her, a writer. All these geniuses fall in love with her. And what am I? And then of course there's another big problem. I ca n't exactly explain. GUIDE Yes? GIL I do n't know whether to call it an age difference - or a problem of geography - I'm so messed up. I'm not Hemingway, I'm not Picasso, I'm not Rodin. I'm just a guy who was born too late. OMITTED

EXT. STREET/INT. BUILDING - DAY John walks down a street and enters a building. As he goes up the stairs we learn it is the office of a private detective agency.

INT. AGENCY OFFICE - DAY John and M. DuBois, the head detective. M. Tisserant, the second is present too. JOHN Here's his photo. I want to know where he goes each night. DUBOIS What is your suspicion? JOHN He's engaged to my daughter - to marry and I want to be certain she's making a wise decision. Naturally discretion is paramount. DUBOIS You've come to the right place, monsieur. Monsieur Tisserant - will personally keep track of the gentleman and report back on his whereabouts at night.

EXT. LOVELY SPOT/INT. CAR - NIGHT Gil getting into the car as usual at the same spot at midnight. Another man is in there. Tisserant is observing from his car. TOM Come. GIL -LRB- gets in. -RRB- Thanks for stopping. Gil Pender. TOM Tom Eliot. GIL Tom Eliot? Tom - Stearns - T.S. Eliot? T.S. Eliot? SHOT of Gil entering car. GIL -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- I'm stunned, stunned - Prufrock - my mantra - As the car pulls off, we hear Gil speaking. GIL -LRB- CONT'D ; V.O. -RRB- May I tell you where I come from they measure out their lives in coke spoons. OMITTED

INT. GERTRUDE STEIN'S PLACE - NIGHT Picasso present - dour. STEIN Oh Pender - I'll get to your book in a moment. I finished it. We're just in the middle of a little personal crisis. GIL I did n't mean to intrude. STEIN No, it's no secret. Adriana has left Pablo and has flown to Africa with Ernest Hemingway. GIL What? PABLO Sabia que tenia una obsesi6n con este fanforr6n. Sobre esto discutimos. STEIN Estoy seguro que regresara muy devoto. -LRB- English to Gil. -RRB- He took her hunting kudu but she'll be back to him - the sound of hyenas every night when you're trying to sleep in a tent gets on your nerves pretty quickly. Mt. Kilimanjaro is not Paris. GIL They're on Mt. Kilimanjaro? STEIN Now about your book. Very unusual indeed. In a way it's almost science fiction - fiction with all the futuristic devices - television sets, supersonic flight - and yet it's not typical science fiction - it's unique. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- STEIN -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- Nevertheless you have to get rid of all that technology - what's good about your book are the characters - the human questions - love - mortality - nobody cares about the technology, they care about the human heart. We all fear death and question our place in the universe. Unfortunately your book lapses into easy pessimism. I was having this conversation with Giacometti the other day - he's such a gloom monger. GIL Still, those sculptures - STEIN It's the artist's job not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote to the emptiness of existence. I find your voice clear and lively - do n't be such a defeatist. OMITTED

EXT. FRONT OF HOTEL - DAY Inez, her mother and father loading into car. HELEN Tell Gil to bring a suit because tomorrow night we'll be dining formal. Where's Gil. INEZ I forgot to tell you. Gil is not going with us to Mont St. Michel. JOHN Why not? I do n't understand it. INEZ He writes, he rewrites, he rewrites his rewrites. He says Picasso never left his studio. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- INEZ -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- I said, Gil, you have absolutely nothing in common with Picasso. He just looks at me. HELEN Well he's going to miss a great weekend. OMITTED

EXT. FLEA MARKET - DAY                                        55 Gil browsing. He listens to the old phonograph recordings. GIL Any Cole Porter? GABRIELLE Oh yes - I remember - he was your friend. GIL I was kidding you realize. GABRIELLE I did realize. You're a bit young. GIL I'm surprised you're so familiar with his work. GABRIELLE He wrote many songs about Paris - very beautiful. GIL Yes - he was in love with your hometown. You're a Parisiene? GABRIELLE Oui monsieur. GIL How much. GABRIELLE Dix - huit euro. He pays. Takes album. OMITTED

EXT. BOOK MARKET - DAY Gil at a place that has a bin of various old books more pretty than great - the kind people buy for the binding or plates. He picks up a pretty bound but totally wrecked book in the inside. It is slim, leather, torn up. He reads the title page in hand writing. It reads : `` This diary belongs to Adriana Dupree.'' GIL -LRB- to customer. -RRB- Can you translate this? Speak English? customer shrugs. Moves off.

EXT. NOTRE DAME GARDEN - DAY Gil with Museum Guide. She's translating the diary into English. GUIDE -LRB- reading. -RRB- That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me. Turns pages. GUIDE -LRB- continuing. -RRB- Dinner with Pablo and Henri Matisse. Pablo is the greater artist although Matisse is the greater painter. GUIDE -LRB- continuing. -RRB- Paris in the summer - what it must have been like to sit opposite one's lover at Maxim's in it's heyday. Pages are torn and text cuts off. GUIDE -LRB- continuing. -RRB- I am in love with an American writer I just met named Gil Pender. His eyes widen. GUIDE -LRB- continuing. -RRB- That immediate magic one hears about happened to me. I know that both Picasso and Hemingway are in love with me but for whatever inexplicable reasons the heart has, I am drawn to Gil. Perhaps because he seems naive and unassuming. GUIDE -LRB- continuing. -RRB- As always in this sad life he is about to marry a woman named Inez. I had a dream where he came to me and brought me a little gift - earrings they were - and we made love. perhaps it is just as well I accept Hemingway's offer to go to Africa. Life with Pablo is too full of conflict and I am suffocating under his genius. Why I need to go from one brilliant man to another is my weakness. Gil is different, perhaps not a genius but not moody and selfish like Pablo or Amedeo was. I think a trip to Africa with Hemingway would help get these feelings for Gil off my mind. GUIDE -LRB- finished reading. -RRB- I do n't understand. What is this? GIL It's a little complicated to explain. Thanks for translating - GUIDE The writer clearly has feelings for this man Gil. That's your name, no? GIL She finds him no genius - naive and unassuming - that's not exactly dazzling. GUIDE To some women naivete is endearing. And she's romantic. She dreams of Belle Epoque Paris and a gift of earrings and making love with this man. Gil stares, thinking.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - NIGHT Gil is sprucing up. He douses himself with aftershave, checks clock. It's eleven PM. GIL -LRB- to himself. -RRB- Eleven - let's see - where the hell am I going to get earrings at this hour? -LRB- thinks. -RRB- I must improvise. He goes to Inez's jewelry box and picks out art nouveau earrings he knows Adriana would like. He grabs a box and gift wraps it quickly. Maybe it comes in a blue velvet box and he finds some colored paper. Gil writes card : To Adriana with love. He crosses it out - To Adriana avec amour. He gives a final check to himself and opens door to leave, running smack into Inez and both her parents, home from their trip prematurely. GIL Ohmigodl What are you doing back? INEZ Daddy got chest pains. GIL Really? JOHN I'm sure it's indigestion. HELEN Well we ca n't take a chance. INEZ Daddy had an angioplasty three years ago. JOHN They put a balloon in me. Big deal. HELEN -LRB- phone. -RRB- Yes - I want the hotel doctor - suite 818. -LRB- she trails off. -RRB- INEZ Why are you so dressed up? GIL Me? No - I was just writing. INEZ You dress and put on cologne to write? GIL I took a break and showered. I think better in the shower. All those positive ions. INEZ We were halfway to Mont.. St. Michele and Daddy started to look pale. GIL That's terrible. INEZ We turned right around. GIL No - sure - is there anything I can get you, John? JOHN I'm fine. I'm sure it's the beef bourguignon. INEZ What's this. -LRB- picking up gift. -RRB- GIL -LRB- grabs it from her. -RRB- It's nothing - nothing - INEZ What is that? It's a present. GIL Yes - yes. it is. Because it's gift wrapped. but er - you're not supposed to see that - it's a surprise. INEZ You got me something? GIL It's nothing great - from the flea market. INEZ Let me open it. GIL No! No - not now. I got it for - I mean to give it to you at a special dinner - just leave it. INEZ Now I'm dying of curiosity. If it's jewelry I hope it's my taste - not like the moonstone necklace. GIL You did n't like the moonstones? They're understated yet elegant -. -LRB- to Helen. -RRB- Do n't you always say that, ha, ha. ·. HELEN Cheap is cheap is what I always say. INEZ You never saw the necklace he got me. I've never actually worn it. You'll see why immediately. Opens her jewelry box, holds up moonstones. GIL I thought you'd like their simplicity. INEZ That's just it, they're too simple. HELEN I agree. INEZ Hey - where are my art nouveau earrings? GIL You probably did n't pack them. INEZ I've worn them here. GIL I guess you lost them. They probably dropped off. INEZ Both of them? My ears are pierced. HELEN I told you to keep everything in the hotel safe. INEZ You think it was the maid? HELEN It's always the maid. INEZ I remember seeing them there this morning. HELEN I would report the theft right away. INEZ I'll bet it was that maid. She was so snotty yesterday about turning out the beds. She goes to phone. GIL Gee I would n't jump to any conclusions. I mean an accusation of theft. INEZ -LRB- phone. -RRB- I want to report a theft. I'd like the house detective to please come to room 818. GIL Oh god - INEZ -LRB- hangs up. -RRB- I did n't like that maid from the first day, did n't I say that? Door rings. GIL The maid was very sweet. INEZ -LRB- opening door, doctor is there. -RRB- Right. Take the side of the help as usual. That's why Dad calls you a Communist. DOCTOR I'm Dr. Gerard. HELEN Come in - he's right there. JOHN I'm fine. HELEN He's had an angioplasty. Amidst the ad - lib moment, Gil has managed to secure a private spot and has swiped the box. He's torn it open and removing earrings, runs into the room with them. GIL Look! Look! Are these what you're missing? INEZ Where did you find them? GIL They were in the bathroom. INEZ The bathroom? GIL Right out on the sink. HELEN I was in the bathroom, I did n't see them. GIL Well you're under stress. INEZ Why the hell would they be in the bathroom? GIL Maybe you thought you put them away and left them out or dropped them, and the maid found them and left them out where you could see them easily. INEZ I did n't drop them or leave them out. GIL The main thing is they're not stolen. DOCTOR I'm going to send you for some tests but I think that you are right and this is only indigestion. JOHN See. Incidentally, it was very nice of you to come over so late. HELEN Yes - my god, is it midnight already? Gil is disappointed.

EXT. FLEA MARKET - DAY Gil is buying earrings. OMITTED

EXT. DETECTIVE TISSERANT'S CAR/LOVELY SPOT - NIGHT He is behind the wheel of his car observing. Car stops - picks up Gil, pulls off. Tisserant pulls off to follow.

INT. GERTRUDE STEIN'S PLACE - NIGHT STEIN -LRB- to Matisse. -RRB- C'est l'un de vos meilleurs jusqu'a present. Je parlai a Leo. Je pense qu'il souhaite l'acheter. Matisse is delighted, goes about his business there as she turns to Gil. STEIN I was just telling Matisse we want to buy one of his new pictures for our personal collection. Five hundred francs seems fair. GIL Five hundred francs? For a Matisse? -LRB- half to himself. -RRB- -LRB- MORE. -RRB- GIL -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- Gee, why do n't I pick up half a dozen? I could clean up - but how's all this possible - I should have paid more attention in my physics class. STEIN Well? GIL Oh er - I brought a rewrite of the first few chapters of my book and was hoping you would tell me if you thought I was on the right track. STEIN Leave it with me. GIL Er - have you heard from Hemingway? STEIN Oh yes, they've been back for days. The trip did n't work out. I knew they would n't hit it off. That's over. with Picasso too. She's at Deyrolles - by herself. GIL By herself? STEIN On of those surrealist painters is getting married and they did it up there. She'll be glad to see you.

INT. DEYROLLE - NIGHT Wedding in progress. Informal, non - traditional wedding with artist type guests. Gil finds Adriana. ADRIANA Oh - what are you doing here? GIL I came to find you. ADRIANA You did? GIL Let's just say as a writer I see into women's souls and I sense that you have very complicated feelings towards me. ADRIANA But you're going to be married. GIL I'm not so sure about anything anymore - can we just go where it's quiet? They are almost out the door when they run into Luis Bufiuel. GIL -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- Oh, Mr. Bufiuel, I had a nice idea for a movie for you. BuNuEL Yes? GIL A group of people are at a formal dinner party and after dinner when they try to leave the room, they ca n't. BuNuEL Why not? GIL They just ca n't seem to exit the door. BuNuEL But why? GIL And because they're all forced to stay together the veneer of civilization quickly comes off them and they behave as who they really are - animals. BuNuEL But I do n't get it - why do n't they just walk out of the room? GIL Just think about it - that's all I'm saying - maybe one day you'll be shaving and it'll tickle your fancy. They go off as Bufiuel gets in last line. BuNuEL I do n't understand - what's holding them in the room?

EXT. PRETTY LOCATION - NIGHT Gil and Adriana at romantic locale. He kisses her. ADRIANA What are you doing? GIL I do n't know but I do know that for a brief moment, when I was doing it, I felt - immortal. ADRIANA But - you look so sad. GIL Because life is too mysterious for me. ADRIANA It's the time we live in. Everything moves so fast - life is noisy and complicated - not like the Belle Epoque. In those years Paris lived only for beauty. GIL I've always been a logical person. I never took chances - did anything crazy - like move here when I first came or take a shot at being a real writer, not a Hollywood hired hand - but I feel like letting everything go. Gil gives her earrings. GIL Here. ADRIANA How remarkable - they're beautiful. A horse and carriage pulls up. DIDIER Monsieur, mademoiselle - on y vas. ADRIANA What? Who are you? CHLOE Montez. On y vas. Nous allons etre en retard. GIL What's going on? They get in. ADRIANA Where are we going? DIDIER To drink champagne.

EXT. MAXIMS - NIGHT They pull up at Maxims. People from the Belle Epoque enter and exit. ADRIANA This is so beautiful. ADRIANA -LRB- CONT'D. -RRB- All those pictures I've seen of Belle Epoque Paris. We're herel - GIL I do n't know what it is about this city but I must write a thank you note to the chamber of commerce.

INT. MAXIMS - NIGHT Inside. MARIE Welcome - and oh what marvelous outfits. So avant garde - please have some champagne. ADRIANA I ca n't believe this is happening to me.

INT. MAXIMS - NIGHT Gil and Adriana are dancing romantically. ADRIANA I never want to go back to the present. Never. GIL The present - Yes, the present always seems worse than the past but it ca n't be - to always think this generation is stupider and coarser than the last - and yet - here we are at Maxims tonight and yes, it's fabulous. ADRIANA And I know just where I want to go after.

INT. MOULIN ROUGE/STAGE - NIGHT The girls dance.

INT. MOULIN ROUGE/AUDIENCE - NIGHT Gil and Adriana sit and hold hands. Dance ends and girls run off. ADRIANA -LRB- to waiter. -RRB- Encore du vin. Le meme chose. -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- Is n't this something. Lookl Look I She points out Lautrec sketching. ADRIANA Pablo worships him. I have to say hello. Come with me, I'm nervous. GIL We should n't bother him. ADRIANA But we know he's a lonely man. he longs for company. They go over. She speaks to Lautrec. ADRIANA We're both great admirers of your work. Nous sommes tout les deux de grands admirateurs de votre travail. LAUTREC Merci madame. ADRIANA Pouvons nous vous offrir un verre? LAUTREC J'en serai enchante mademoiselle. Prenez un siege je vous en prie. ADRIANA He's asking us to sit down with him. GIL This much French I know. LAUTREC Etes vous Americain? GIL I'm American. Oui - LAUTREC Je l'ai devine a votre accent. ADRIANA Nous aimons, tous les vos dessins et peintures, en realite tout ce que vous faites. GIL Yes, I love your pictures too. LAUTREC -LRB- welcomes two new men to table. -RRB- Oh - puis - je vous presenter mes amis. Monsieur Degas and Monsieur Gauguin. ADRIANA Ohmigoodness - hello - enchante -. -LRB- ad - lib hellos best they can. -RRB- -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- Is n't this thrilling? You see the sketch he's made? Nobody can draw like that today - not Pablo, not Matisse - We see fine drawing, Lautrec style. GIL Parlez Anglais? DEGAS No monsieur. LAUTREC -LRB- referring to Gauguin. -RRB- Il parle un petit peut. GAUGUIN I speak well - je parle tres bien. DEGAS -LRB- scornfully over Gauguin's boasting. -RRB- Ah - GAUGUIN Degas and I were just talking about how - cette generation est depourvue de sens et mangue d'imagination. ADRIANA He says they find this generation sterile and empty - GAUGUIN La Renaissance est beaucoup mieux - better to have lived during the Renaissance. ADRIANA No - this is the Golden Age - L'Age D'or. DEGAS Pas do tout - la Renaissance - c ` etait mieux - leur vetements sont tres, tres modernes, tres originaux. ADRIANA He says your clothes are very modern and original. GIL Er - yes - Monsieur Lauren - Ralph. -LRB- to Gauguin. -RRB- Should n't you be in Tahiti? GAUGUIN I? What? Yes - I live on the island - a much better life than here - better there - but then I miss Paris - up and back - Qu'est que vous faites dans la vie? ADRIANA What do I do? Je suis etudiante. En haute couture - fashion designer but studying - DEGAS Ah ga compte pour les vetements outrageux. LAUTREC Vous devriez la presenter a Richard. GAUGUIN He wants Degas to have you meet his friend Richard. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- GAUGUIN -LRB- cont' d. -RRB- He's looking for someone to do costumes for the ballet. ADRIANA Ballet costumes - my god - I do n't live here. I mean I do but I do n't. Je n'habite pas ici. GIL I would n't get into too many details with them. Let's just leave it that we're temporarily passing through. ADRIANA -LRB- to Gil. -RRB- Can I speak with you a minute? -LRB- to table. -RRB- Permettez - moi de m ` absenter un instant. -LRB- she gets him off. -RRB- Let's never go back to the twenties. GIL What are you talking about? ADRIANA I think we should stay here - it's the start of the Belle Epoque - this is the greatest, most beautiful era Paris has ever known. GIL But I love the Jazz Age. ADRIANA The twenties are full of strife and uncertainty. But think of it, Gil - the two of us - in a lovely art nouveau home - I'll work in the fashion world - I love the styles - you can write. it's the age of Debussy and Guimard. Maybe you can meet Balzac. GIL But what happened to the twenties and the Charleston and Cole Porter? ADRIANA That's the present, it's dull. GIL It's not the present for me - I'm from 2010. ADRIANA What do you mean? GIL I dropped in on you just the way we dropped in on the 1890's. ADRIANA You did? GIL I wanted to escape my present just like you wanted to escape yours. To a golden age. ADRIANA Surely you do n't think the twenties are a golden age? GIL To me they are. ADRIANA But I'm from the twenties and I'm tellin you the golden age is the Belle Epoque. GIL Yes but do n't you see - to these guys the golden age was the Renaissance. They'd all trade the Belle Epoque to paint alongside Michelangelo or Titian. And those guys probably imagine life was better when Kubla Khan was around. I'm having an insight. A minor one but that accounts for the anxiety of my dream. ADRIANA What dream? GIL Last night I dreamed I ran out of zithromax - and then I went to the dentist and there was no novacaine - these people have no antibiotics - ADRIANA What are you talking about? GIL And even in the twenties - no dishwashers - no 911 if your appendix bursts - no `` movies on demand'' · ADRIANA But if we love each other what does it matter when we live? GIL Because if you stay here and this becomes your present, sooner or later you'll imagine another time was really the golden time. And so will I - I'm beginning to see why it ca n't work, Adriana. The present has a hold on you because it's your present and while there's never any progress in the most important things, you get to appreciate - what little progress is made - the internet - Pepto - Bismol. The present is always going to seem unsatisfying because life itself is unsatisfying - that's why Gauguin goes back and forth between Paris and Tahiti, searching - it's my job as a writer to try and come up with reasons why despite life being tragic and unsatisfying, it's still worth it. ADRIANA That's the problem with writers - you're all so full of words - but I'm more emotional. I'm going to stay and live in Paris' most glorious time. You made a choice to leave Paris once and you regretted it. GIL Yes, that one I regretted but it was a real choice and I made the wrong one. This is a choice between accepting reality or surreal insanity. ADRIANA So finally you do love Inez more than me. GIL No - I love you - but this way lies madness - and if I'm ever going to write anything worthwhile I've got to get rid of my illusions and that I'd be happier in the past is one of them. ADRIANA Goodbye, Gil. GIL Goodbye Adriana. Good luck. They kiss, she turns and goes to the table of artists.

INT. GERTRUDE STEIN'S PLACE - NIGHT Gil being admitted to the Stein home. He is full of energy. STEIN Ah - Pender - I read your rewrite. Yes. you're nicely on the right track. You've understood me clearly. If the rest of the book reads as well when you're done you'll have something of value. GIL -LRB- taking it back. -RRB- Thank you. I ca n't tell you how much this means to me. STEIN Hemingway who read your chapters and agrees it's going to be a fine book did have one plot suggestion. GIL Hemingway read it? What was his suggestion? STEIN He finds it hard to believe the protagonist does n't see his fiancee is having an affair that's going on right before his eyes. GIL with - STEIN The other character - the pedantic one - GIL It's called denial. Thanks again. -LRB- to passing poet. -RRB- You're Ezra Pound right? T.S. Eliot says you owe him forty francs.

INT. HOTEL SUITE - DAY Gil back in present in mid - argument with Inez. INEZ You're crazy - Paul and me? Where did you get such an insane notion? GIL From Ernest Hemingway. He thought it out and it makes perfect sense. INEZ Gil, your brain tumor's acting up again. GIL There's nothing crazy about Ernest Hemingway or Gertrude Stein or Fitzgerald or Salvador Dali - INEZ Nothing except they've all been dead for years. GIL It was William Faulkner who said, the past is not dead. -LRB- MORE. -RRB- GIL -LRB- cont'd. -RRB- In fact, it's not even past. Actually I ran into Bill Faulkner at a party. INEZ You're a raving lunatic. GIL I guess I'm too trusting. I'm jealous and also trusting - cognitive dissonance, Scott Fitzgerald speaks of it. INEZ Gil - GIL I know it Inez - you can fool me but not Hemingway. INEZ Jesus Christ I'm dealing with a madman - okay - Paul and I had a few nights alone. We danced, we drank - you were always working - he's very attractive, he spoke to me in French - the whole mystique of this corny city got to me - it's over. We can put this all in perspective at home. GIL I'm not going back. INEZ What? GIL I'm staying here. It's not the romantic fling. Paris is Paris. It's that I'm not in love with you. INEZ What? GIL A lot has happened to me since we got here. I wo n't begin to bore you - but - I know what that feeling of love is and it's not us. INEZ Have you met someone else? All those late night walks. GIL I was attracted to another woman but it was the whole deal - meeting Gertrude Stein and Hemingway and Dali and Scott and Zelda - INEZ Honey, you better listen to yourself. You're a psycho. You do n't know what you're doing. You see everything here through magical colored glasses. You're a California film writer with a house in Beverly Hills with two Mercedes'. You're not some kind of twenties expatriate novelist. Her parents enter from the adjoining suite. HELEN What's going on? We can hear every word. GIL If I'm not happy I'll move back. But right now I'm going to stay. INEZ With who? All your crazy hallucinatory friends? Mother was right about you - there's a part missing. JOHN said that first. INEZ Anyone who's protagonist makes a living selling old cap pistols and Joan Crawford cut out books. GIL You're better off without me. INEZ Go ahead. Walk the streets - gush over the Parisian light and the rooftops. GIL Goodbye Inez. He goes. JOHN I had a private detective follow him - I knew he was up to no good. INEZ Daddy you did n't. JOHN I did. He saw him get into a car at midnight each night and he followed close behind. HELEN What happened? JOHN I do n't know. The detective agency says the detective is missing.

INT. VERSAILLES - DAY Detective Tisserant is in a period room with two stunned period occupants. They all speak French. COUNT A qui ai - je l'honneur? TISSERANT Je me suis perdu - J'ai pas du tourner au bon endroit COUNTESS Guardes! Guardes! COUNT Qu'on lui coupe la tete! OMITTED

EXT. PONT ALEXANDRE III - NIGHT Gil walking at night. He sees someone approaching and realizes it is the girl from the Flea Market, Gabrielle. GIL Hey, I know you - the girl at the flea market. GABRIELLE Oh yes - yes - the Cole Porter one. GIL What are you doing here? GABRIELLE I'm returning from dinner with my girlfriends. I live near here. GIL What's your name? GABRIELLE Gabrielle. GIL Gabrielle, - I'm Gil - I just moved to Paris this week. GABRIELLE Oh I'm sure you'll love it. GIL Can I walk along with you or can I buy you a coffee? Oh god, it's starting to rain. GABRIELLE That's okay. I do n't mind getting wet. Paris is the most beautiful in the rain. GIL Oh what a thing to say. I could n't agree more. GABRIELLE I just thought about you the other day because my boss got in a whole album of Cole Porter songs. GIL Hey what are those bells? GABRIELLE It's midnight. GIL Midnight - right - right - pretty name. FADE OUT as they walk off together in the rain.

Summary: In 2011, Gil Pender, a successful but creatively unfulfilled Hollywood screenwriter, and his fiancée Inez, are in Paris vacationing with Inez's wealthy, conservative parents. Gil is struggling to finish his first novel, centered on a man who works in a nostalgia shop. Inez dismisses his ambition as a romantic daydream, and encourages him to stick with lucrative screenwriting. Gil is considering moving to Paris (which he notes, much to the dismay of his fiancée, is at its most beautiful in the rain). Inez is intent on living in Malibu. By chance, they are joined by Inez's friend Paul, who is described as both pedantic and a pseudo-intellectual, and his wife Carol. Paul speaks with great authority but questionable accuracy on the highlights of Paris up to the point of even contradicting a tour guide at the Musée Rodin, and insisting that his knowledge of Rodin's relationships is more accurate than that of the guide. Inez admires him; Gil finds him insufferable. A night of wine tasting gets Gil drunk and he decides to walk the streets of Paris to get back to the hotel; Inez goes off with Paul and Carol by taxi. He stops to reconnoiter his location. At midnight, a 1920s car pulls up beside him, and the passengers, dressed in 1920s wardrobe, urge him to join them. They hit a party for Jean Cocteau attended by notable people of 1920s Paris: Cole Porter and his wife Linda Lee Porter, Zelda, and Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda gets bored at the party and encourages Scott and Gil to leave with her. They head first to Bricktops where they see Josephine Baker dancing, and then to a cafe, where they run into Ernest Hemingway and Juan Belmonte. Zelda gets upset when Hemingway says her novel was weak, and she heads with Belmonte to St. Germain, followed shortly thereafter by Scott, who doesn't like the thought of his wife and the toreador. After discussing writing, Hemingway offers to show Gil's novel to Gertrude Stein. As Gil exits the building to fetch his manuscript from his hotel, he finds he has returned to 2011; the bar where the 1920s literati were drinking is now a laundromat. The next night, Gil wants to share with Inez his time travel experience. She ditches Gil before the clock strikes midnight. Before long, the same car returns; Gil joins Hemingway on his way to visit a friend. Gil is introduced to Gertrude Stein and other friends at her apartment: Pablo Picasso and his lover Adriana. Adriana and Gil are instantly attracted to each other. Stein reads aloud the novel's first line: Out Of The Past was the name of the store, and its products consisted of memories: what was prosaic and even vulgar to one generation had been transmuted by the mere passing of years to a status at once magical and also camp. Adriana says that she is hooked by these few lines and has always had a longing for the past, especially the Belle Époque. Gil continues with his time travel for the next couple nights. Inez is annoyed at the boulevards and bistros and Gil's wanderings. Her father is suspicious and hires a private detective to follow him. Adriana has her time with Picasso and Hemingway, and eventually Gil, although he is conflicted by his attraction to her. Gil confides his predicament to Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, and Luis Buñuel, but being surrealists they see nothing strange about his claim to have come from the future, finding it to be perfectly normal. Each discusses the impossibility of Gil's relationship with Adriana, and as artists, what work of art from each could come of the romance. Gil would suggest a film plot to Buñuel that is the cause of him attempting to understand the purpose of the plot. Inez and her parents are traveling to Mont Saint Michel while Gil meets Gabrielle, an antique dealer and fellow admirer of the Lost Generation. He buys a Cole Porter gramophone record, and later finds Adriana's diary from the 1920s at a book stall by the Seine, which reveals that she was in love with him. Reading that she dreamed of receiving a gift of earrings from him and then making love to him, Gil attempts to take a pair of Inez's earrings to give to Adriana, but is thwarted by Inez's early return to the hotel room. Gil buys earrings for Adriana. Returning to the past, he finds her at a party and tells her, "I sense there are some complicated feelings you have for me." He takes her for a walk, they kiss, and he gives her the earrings. While she's putting them on, a horse-drawn carriage comes down the street, and a richly dressed couple inside the carriage invite Gil and Adriana for a ride. The carriage transports the passengers to the Belle Époque, an era Adriana considers Paris's Golden Age. Gil and Adriana go first to Maxim's Paris, then to the Moulin Rouge where they meet Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Edgar Degas. Gil asks what they thought the best era was, and the three determine that the greatest era was the Renaissance. The enthralled Adriana is offered a job designing ballet costumes and proposes to Gil that they stay, but Gil, upon observing that different people long for different "golden ages", has an epiphany and realizes that despite the allure of nostalgia, any time can eventually become a dull "present", so it's best to embrace your actual present. Adriana however, elects to stay in the 1890s, and they part. Gil rewrites the first two chapters of his novel and retrieves his draft from Stein, who praises his progress as a writer and tells him that Hemingway likes it, but questions why the main character has not realized that his fiancée (based on Inez) is having an affair with a pedantic character (based on Paul). Gil returns to 2011 and confronts Inez. She admits to having slept with Paul, but dismisses it as a meaningless fling. Gil breaks up with her and decides to move to Paris. Amid Inez's pique, Gil calmly leaves, after which Inez's father tells her and her mother that he had Gil followed, though the detective has mysteriously disappeared. It is revealed that the detective found himself in the Versailles of Louis XIV, and is last seen fleeing from the palace guards amid threats of "Off with his head!" Walking by the Seine at midnight, Gil bumps into Gabrielle,  and, after it starts to rain, he offers to walk her home and they learn that they share the love of Paris in the rain.