CUE: The score broods then gives way to an elegiac piano
theme.
ULTRA-WIDE ANGLE ON -
The light is extraordinarily beautiful. It looks like a Saul Leiter picture.
The aristocrats all chat amongst themselves sipping coffees
and cognac.
NEW ANGLE ON -
LÁSZLÓ and VAN BUREN are deep in-conversation sitting in two chairs the main foyer whiles guests observe the library nearby.
VAN BUREN
(longing, drunk lucidity)
I was married once and she gave me two beautiful children. Nevertheless, my mother Margaret and the twins demanded my attention- every minute of my scarce personal time. Things became awkward between my ex-wife and Margaret so we separated amicably...
VAN BUREN lights a cigar. He might be drunk.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
Margaret raised me on her own in Rochester. Just the two of us. Her parents had disowned her for “a child out of wedlock,” so she was my only real family, other than the twins later on in life, of course...
VAN BUREN speaks rhythmically, hypnotically.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
I’ll tell you, shortly before they died, my mother’s parents - I hesitate to call them my grandparents - they reached out to Margaret and me after reading an article on the reported success of my first company.
VAN BUREN asides...
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
In actual fact, we weren’t doing all that well at the time and would soon shutter our doors, but this was not yet public knowledge.
VAN BUREN takes a sip of his drink.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
-you might have concluded from our prior interactions, I am blunt, not hyperbolic or particularly sentimental, but my mother was defenseless to their chumminess. She argued that ‘they could very well be sick or dying,” and perhaps “they really needed the money...” I didn’t like seeing Margaret, an ordinarily pragmatic person, reduced to such bromidic assumptions but I agreed to meet them in-person;
(MORE)
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
in part, to appease her, as well as to satisfy the curiosities of my lineage.
A PARTY GUEST comes over and interjects...
PARTY GUEST
It’s very clever, isn’t it? The way the space seems to envelop you.
VAN BUREN
I think so, yes.
PARTY GUEST
It reminds me of a short story I read about a never-ending library, a labyrinth. Are you working on anything at present, Mr. Toth?
LÁSZLÓ
A bowling alley.
The PARTY GUEST furrows his brow.
VAN BUREN
Pardon me, but I was just in the middle of telling our friend a story.
PARTY GUEST
Oh, not at all. Excuse me.
The PARTY GUEST moves on.
LÁSZLÓ
You agreed to see them?
VAN BUREN nods.
VAN BUREN
We exchanged pleasantries over the telephone and I offered to visit them at their modest apartment residence in a neighboring town.
VAN BUREN asides...
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
I laughed to realize they’d been so nearby all those years!
Back to the body of the story...
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
On the drive over, I had time to think and finally arrived at a figure I felt comfortable offering the two of them - seeing that they were, whether I liked it or not, our only living relatives...
(MORE)
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
I was received hospitably so I swiftly moved to explain that I had made them out a cheque for the amount of $25,000. When I handed it over, they appeared relieved but perhaps a little disappointed at the figure. They were courteous and thanked me, all the same.
VAN BUREN pauses for effect.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
I was quite uncomfortable but before hurrying off I asked them a question; “what will you do with all that money?” They rambled on about miracles or some such thing. For a moment, everything in their immediate line of view seemed solvable, achievable! They would finally be all right. What a thoughtful grandson I was!
VAN BUREN smiles.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
Upon departure, before I had reached the edge of their front lawn, the two of them ran out after me shouting! - “You’ve forgotten your signature, Harrison!”
VAN BUREN exhales demonstratively.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
I summoned the courage to be frank and speak to them as adults. I had not forgotten, I said, but was ultimately not compelled to sign due to the blunder of their response! If only they’d been sick or dying as my mother had previously suggested, how glad I would have been to ease their troubles - but they appeared perfectly healthy to me!
VAN BUREN sighs.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
They took it as such a shock that for a moment I thought that that might kill them right there on the front lawn - but the two just wept and came apart like beggars... It was all much more disturbing than I’d imagined it in my head so on the condition that they let Margaret alone from then on, I struck them a separate cheque for the amount of $500 and signed.
BEAT.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D) That is how much I loved my mother, Mr. Toth. We did things for each other!
LÁSZLÓ
(deadpan)
What could they expect after the
way they had treated you both.
VAN BUREN
Yes, yes, that’s exactly how I see it.
LÁSZLÓ blinks.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
So, answer me one question; why architecture?
LÁSZLÓ
Is it a test?
VAN BUREN
Not at all.
LÁSZLÓ smiles through the pain of his broken nose.
LÁSZLÓ
(matter-of-fact)
Nothing can be of its own
explanation– is there a better
description of a cube than that of
its construction? You know, some
years ago, in March, a stranger
knocked at the classroom door of
the university where I frequently
lectured. At once, all that was
familiar and important to us was
gone. We were too well-known at
home. I thought my reputation might
help to protect us but- it was the
opposite. There was no way to
remain anonymous; nowhere for my
family to go.
LÁSZLÓ sighs and changes course.
LÁSZLÓ (CONT'D)
There was a war on, and yet it is
my understanding that many of the
sites of my projects have survived
and are still there in the city.
He smiles again and continues, choosing his words carefully.
LÁSZLÓ (CONT'D)
When the terrible recollections of
what happened in Europe have ceased
to humiliate us, I expect them to
serve instead as a political
stimulus, sparking the upheavals
that so frequently occur in the
cycles of peoplehood.
(MORE)
LÁSZLÓ (CONT'D)
I already anticipate a communal
rhetoric of anger and fear; a whole
river of such frivolities may flow
un-dammed, but my buildings were
devised to endure such erosion of
the Danube’s shoreline.
VAN BUREN is intoxicated by LÁSZLÓ’s response.
VAN BUREN
What a poetic reply! You must have been a beloved professor! I’ve said it before but I do find our conversations intellectually stimulating.
WE PAN UP with VAN BUREN as he rises from his chair to
address the room.
VAN BUREN (CONT'D)
Everyone, take your brandy and join me outside! I have a fantastic surprise.