<script>
  <scene>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>By Richard Glatzer</dialogue>
    <scene_description>& Wash Westmoreland Current Revisions by Rebecca Lenkiewicz</scene_description>
    <character>FINAL SHOOTING SCRIPT</character>
    <dialogue>19th May 2017</dialogue>
    <scene_description>© 2017 Colette Film Holdings Ltd</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BURGUNDIAN COUNTRYSIDE - SUNRISE - 1892</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The first light is breaking over the fields and hedges of this timeless rural landscape. With the clanking of bells, a herd of cows makes its way to the first milking.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOME - BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The room is simple with a few sticks of worn wooden furniture. A young woman is asleep under the covers, with a cat curled up on the bottom of the bed. This is GABRIELLE- SIDONIE COLETTE, or as she will later be known, simply COLETTE. A voice calls from down the corridor - her mother SIDO.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Gabrielle!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The girl stirs but her eyes remain stubbornly closed.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Gabrielle!! Wake up.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(murmuring)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let me sleep!</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Come on, Gabrielle!!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sido is now at the door frame. A handsome country woman, forthright and practical - nobody's fool.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What time is it?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>It's 8 o'clock. Willy is coming today.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette just murmurs. SIDO (cont'd) Good. Then you won't want your hair doing. She disappears. After a moment, a head emerges from under the pillow and looks to the empty doorway. We get our first look at the milky skinned, precocious, whip-smart, Colette.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY TRAIN STATION - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A train belches steam as it slowly moves toward the station. A MAN IN A TOP HAT leans out of the window. OMITTED</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. TRAIN CARRIAGE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Dismounting, Willy sees a waiting carriage across the platform.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - PARLOR</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Wearing her best frock, Colette carries a large TEA SERVICE down a corridor and into the main room. Willy is seated, in conversation with Sido and JULES, the patriarch, an affable old soldier, with one leg, who is smoking a pipe.</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>And how is Paris these days, Willy?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's a hot bed! It's "Electric!" Heaving with artists, writers, poets, all seeking to say something profound... most of them are too young or crazed but still, they do generate a certain... life force!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette, her hair neatly plaited, puts the cups out for everyone then takes over the teapot and pours.</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>We were going to see a play in Paris - weren't we?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>La Tosca.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I was at the opening. I wouldn't bother, quite frankly. Sarah Bernhardt did her best, she always does, but the piece is too overwrought in a particularly feminine way... melodramatic in extremis! Tears on the stage but all dry eyes in the house.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe I'll go and make up my own mind.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, just remember... if a book bores you, you can throw it away. If a painting is garish, you close your eyes.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Whereas bad theatre is like dentistry; you are compelled to stay in the chair, having your skull drilled, until the entire grizzly procedure is over.</dialogue>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>Good point, Willy. Painful business!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Though I imagine it must hold a secret source of enjoyment - for the dentist.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy raises an appreciative eyebrow and chuckles.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed... Oh - I almost forgot. A small gift.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a small package. She unwraps it to find a SNOW GLOBE OF PARIS.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. I've read about these.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Shake it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She does and looks, fascinated, at the twirling flakes.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Look, Sido. A snow globe.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She holds it up for her mother.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>M. Willy bids good-bye to Jules, Sido and Colette, before the carriage moves off. Colette is holding her comfortable old cat which she hands off to her mother.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Sido, I'm going for a walk.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Change your dress first.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'll stay on the path.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Change it!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - STAIRS - MINUTES LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Now in a different dress, Colette starts to come down stairs. Hearing her parents talking in the kitchen, she slows up, listening carefully.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>There's something about him I find suspect... something disingenuous.</dialogue>
    <character>JULES (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, not in my reckoning... He's a good man. He has a reputation, yes, but there comes a time in a man's life to settle down...and she's the right age for it. She'll be twenty next time around.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>I just worry that he won't understand her. That girl said her first word at nine months. She was always reading, way ahead of her class, she was the lead in the school play - every year.</dialogue>
    <character>JULES (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>My dear, would anyone be good enough for you?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Hmmph.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Now on the ground floor Colette waits outside the door as her parents talk. Sido moves into view by the kitchen sink.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Have you finished the letter to his father?</dialogue>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>I keep starting but I can't seem to finish it. A girl without a dowry, -that just doesn't happen in their circles. They may cut him off if he marries her.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>So they call it off. The world won't end.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>As her father talks, Colette sneaks back up the last five stairs...</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>Sido, he clearly adores her - he's visited four times. He'll give her status, not to mention a tremendous cultural life - the theater, the opera. He'll give her Paris for heaven's sakes!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette comes clumping down the stairs, slightly too loudly and into the room.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Can I go now?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. Take this - for blackberries.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(hands her a pot)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm making a tart tomorrow. And don't be late back.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(eye roll)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I won't...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sido watches her daughter, not without suspicion, as she takes off across the garden.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAINT-SAUVEUR - COUNTRYSIDE - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette runs down a path, then backs up, picks a few prime blackberries, and continues on. She moves through the woods, with the stealth of an animal then breaks out across a broad green meadow towards a barn.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. OLD BARN - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>She approaches the gaping black door of a dilapidated barn.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OLD BARN</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Entering the darkness, Colette blinks to re-adjust her eyes. A flutter of wings attracts her attention. She turns to see an ascending pigeon. Then, below, a tired old horse.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Where are you?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Over here. Enjoying the simple pleasures of country life!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Behind a partition, she sees Willy, reclining on a pile of straw.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You look at home in the hay.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I think I might be! And you look like a beautiful young country girl. Right there. With the light...What's that?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette shows him, putting the bowl between them as she nestles beside him. Her hands are blue with the juice.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Your fingers are stained.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he takes her hand)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Mm... Maybe I could just leave Paris behind.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he takes a blackberry)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You could feed me berries. I'd catch a fish with my teeth. Then come back here to my cave. Like a bear. Bliss.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'd like that.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(he caresses her braids)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Your hair is a phenomenon.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>In the village, they call me "the girl with the hair."</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I can see why. I'm sure you're famous here in your village.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>A little.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks down. COLETTE (cont'd) How long until your train goes?</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>In about 40 minutes. But I have to walk to the station.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Normally takes me about 15 minutes. Will probably take you 20.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. Right. So if my calculations are correct...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We have time - if we're quick.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, we do.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He smiles, moved by her beauty, kisses her, then breaks off.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I just can't say how unimaginably happy I am, Gabrielle.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>So am I.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He holds her by her shoulders firmly.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I adore you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He kisses her shoulder. Feeling his beard brush against her skin, Colette smiles as they move into a passionate embrace. A nearby horse chews hay as they proceed to take their clothes off.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>11A INT. COLETTE'S BEDROOM. NIGHT. 11A</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette sprawls out on the bed, her hair in plaits. She is writing a letter in a school exercise book in pencil, resting on an encyclopaedia.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Dear Willy, As I walked home by the river, the light shining through the trees, my heart filled with a kind of delicious pride. After all, you know all those fine women of Paris...so I must have something.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(smiles to herself))</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I want to wake up next to you. Trace your profile with my finger while you sleep. Know that the day is ours. That life is ours for the taking. We will be so entire and so happy, my love.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GARDEN - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>At the Wedding Party, Jules is making a toast Colette and Willy in front of a MIXED CROWD of WEDDING GUESTS.</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>It's the proudest time in a father's life, but also - I now find - one of the saddest. I have to hand over my beloved daughter, who has lit up our lives for so long, with her wit, her brilliance, her beauty. I will miss you, Gabrielle. Almost as much as your mother will...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A murmur of acknowledgement from the assembled. Colette smiles at her father, and catches her mother's eye, holding back emotion.</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>But it is no small compensation that I give her to a man of such inestimable standing. There are many celebrities in Paris but few are famous enough to be known by -- by a single name. WILLY - Welcome to the Colette family.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Everyone cheers. Colette turns to her new husband, glowing.</scene_description>
    <character>SOME TIME LATER - EVENING</character>
    <dialogue>A COUNTRY BAND strikes up. COUPLES polka around the garden.</dialogue>
    <dialogue>A COUPLE OF PEASANTS carry trays of drinks from a kitchen tent to the GUESTS. Some CHILDREN chase a chicken through the dancers.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>This is definitely a country wedding.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It'll make a good story -- in Paris.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You'll be the story in Paris, Gabrielle. Just wait 'til they get a look at you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy twirls Colette round and round and round...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. CITY OF PARIS - EVENING - 1893</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Across the river Seine - the center of the demi-monde; the Left Bank. This is not postcard Paris - the buildings are sooty and chimneys are filling the sky with smoke. On the quay, PEOPLE go about their business as a YOUNG ATTENDANT lights the gas lamp.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - BOUDOIR - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MATILDE, the maid, is winching Colette into a very tight red froufrou dress. A knock on the door.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY (O.S)</character>
    <dialogue>Are you ready yet?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No - not yet.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to the maid)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What do you think, Matilde?</dialogue>
    <character>MATILDE</character>
    <dialogue>It's pretty, Madame.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at herself critically.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM/HALLWAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy returns and prepares to knock again.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY (O.S)</character>
    <dialogue>We should try to get there before it ends.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>I'm coming...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The door opens. Colette is in another dress - the one from their meeting in Saint-Sauveur. Matilde hovers nervously.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Is the carriage waiting?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy looks disappointed but together they proceed through SEVERAL ROOMS to the front door. We get a feeling for Willy's apartment - a warren of dark rooms overcrowded by boxes, papers and Wagnerian bric-a-brac. Willy, it seems, is a hoarder.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Where's your new dress?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It looks ridiculous. I couldn't breathe in it.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That thing cost me two hundred and thirty-seven francs.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I know. We'll get it adjusted.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(half joking)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>More money!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They exit.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. ELEGANT PARISIAN STREET - EARLY EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The carriage pulls up. Colette is fiddling with a spot of tooth powder on her dress.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...It's tooth paste.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(amused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My God! Here...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He rubs a little spit on it.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That'll do. Let's go in...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - HALLWAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>They approach the giant door.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Ready for the lions...?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She lets out a nervous exhale. The double doors glide open.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MADAME DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - MAIN ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy and Colette proceed into a reception room filled with the beautiful, the sparkling, and the eccentric of Paris' Golden Age. The mirrors have been polished; so have the epigrams. Amidst the gas lamps, the India rubber plants, and the zebra skin rugs, the energy is bouncing off the walls. Willy acknowledges hellos and nods to people along the way. With her tight braids and country dress, Colette looks drab in this sea of peacocks. They arrive at a circle of conversation -- that of MME. DE CAILLAVET, the hostess, the debonair COUNT MUFFAT, and a few SALONITES and FRIENDS.</scene_description>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>It's monstrous. I can't look at it.</dialogue>
    <character>COUNT MUFFAT</character>
    <dialogue>At least it's temporary.</dialogue>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Oh here's Willy -- Willy! Eiffel's Tower, are you for or against?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm for it, if a little jealous of this giant erection in the heart of our capital... belonging to someone else.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Laughter from the circle.</scene_description>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>You rogue, Willy. And you've brought a... an orphaned relative?</dialogue>
    <character>COUNT MUFFAT</character>
    <dialogue>A secret love child?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(acknowledging their mockery)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Very good... May I present to you my wife, Gabrielle-Sidonie Colette.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette curtsies politely, her cheeks flushing.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Pleased to meet you.</dialogue>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Delighted. Well, astonished actually. You have caught the slipperiest eel... How does one do that?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette smiles, a little nervously.</scene_description>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Where are you from, you sweet thing?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm from Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(no reaction)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...it's in Burgundy.</dialogue>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Hence the dress!</dialogue>
    <character>COUNT MUFFAT</character>
    <dialogue>Have you "relocated," Willy?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This is apparently hilarious and there is laughter.</scene_description>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Tst...ignore him... But how on earth did you two meet?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Our fathers served together in the army...</dialogue>
    <character>COUNT MUFFAT</character>
    <parenthetical>(riding over her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Willy married! The wild days are done, eh?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You're quite mistaken, sir. The wild days have just begun.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy smiles at his new bride's moxie. A business-like young man rushes up to Willy. This is PIERRE VEBER.</scene_description>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, thank God you're back. That short story for La Forgue -</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Pierre. Let me introduce you to my wife, Gabrielle.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>What..? Very pleased to meet you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Before she can speak, he turns to Willy with a more urgent tone.</scene_description>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>It's due on Tuesday and you haven't given me the slightest clue.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Amuse yourself for a moment, Gabrielle.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I will.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy draws Veber aside to continue the shop talk.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's simple - an eight hundred word sketch. Small coastal resort, damp bathing-costumes. The perfect place to rejuvenate a de-iodized constitution. A buxom girl approaches, long legs...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette is left standing by herself. Nearby, a silver tray displays a living turtle with an exquisitely jeweled shell. She takes a lettuce leaf from a salad dish and feeds it.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Poor thing. You want the earth and the grass don't you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Across the room she sees Willy, with Veber, lifting the glass on a wall candle and lighting a cigar. Feeling out of sorts, she moves through to an adjacent room where...</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - MUSIC ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A STRING QUARTET is giving a recital to the assembled. Across the room a group of SALONITES are clearly discussing her. Embarrassed, Colette finds an empty seat. She looks across the room - the salonites are still whispering.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Are your ears burning?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks up and sees - Marcel SCHWOB, an intellectual with a humane gleam in his eye. He sits next to her.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>I'm Schwob, a friend of Willy's.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hello. I'm Gabrielle. Willy described you to me.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>I hope he was kind.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(wryly)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Hope costs nothing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Schwob raises an amused eyebrow, then looks out into the room where people are stealing glances at them.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>The modern day mob, aren't they?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Colette nods)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>But their goddess is gossip instead of the guillotine. Are you feeling overwhelmed?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>A little.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>They may look grand and intimidating. But just imagine them shitting. Each and every one of them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at him, incredulous.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Well they all do, don't they?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Across the room, AN IMPORTANT-LOOKING GENTLEMAN, waves to Schwob.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <parenthetical>(to the Gentleman)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Good evening, Sir!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to Colette)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Try it.</dialogue>
    <character>AEROPLANE VERSION</character>
    <dialogue>SCHWOB</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They may look grand and intimidating. But just imagine them perched over a chamber pot. Each and every one of them.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MADAME DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - VARIOUS ROOMS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We follow Colette as she searches for Willy in the sea of SOCIALITES. She walks through rooms where PEOPLE are now dancing in an avant garde fashion then through a series of SMALLER COMPARTMENTS, where SERVANTS are polishing glasses and CHEFS are preparing hors d'oeuvres, past palms and oil lamps, to a distant room at the far end of the salon.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - SMOKING ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>From the doorway, Colette spies Willy leaning on the mantelpiece talking to a beautiful YOUNG WOMAN in a red dress. The woman leans in close to him, laughing. He whispers something and she laughs even harder. There's a shrieking coming from the corner of the main room. Colette turns to sees the crowd laughing as a BOHEMIAN pours milk into an upright piano.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE - MOVING - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette looks out the window into the night-time streets. After a moment, Willy ventures a question.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So what did you think of the salon?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That was essentially - what you witnessed tonight - everyone who's anyone in Paris...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Was it..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Who did you like? Who did you talk to?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I liked the tortoise. I think he was as bored as I was.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I suspect you were more intimidated than bored?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. I found them...shallow. Pretentious.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Ah, you're reading them wrongly. It's not pretension so much as exaggeration. The ideal is to be authentic yet larger than life. To present a personality with a capital P. You could do it too with your country girl charm ...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She turns to him.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(interrupting)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Did that woman have a capital P?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Which one?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>The one you were talking to? In the red dress. With the breasts?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Nicole D'Allier? That was just... flirtation. It means absolutely nothing.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Then why do it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's what one does... to pass the time. It staves off boredom. You're reading it all completely wrong.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette sighs, frustrated. Willy changes tack.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Maybe...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Forget about all of them now. Any way - haven't you heard the news? Willy is married. Happily married. And he's going home with his bride, who he loves very much.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette nods, looks at him with a half-smile. He is forgiven.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PARIS STREET</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The carriage rides off into the distance.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>From directly above, we see Pierre Veber dash up the stairs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - ENTRANCE ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is seated at a desk, carefully roughing out a letter. She writes a line then crosses it out, rephrases it. There's a knock at the door. Veber enters in the hallway and looks through to Colette's small room where she sits with a large pile of correspondence.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, Veber.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Gabrielle. It's cold out there today.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm under house arrest so it doesn't affect me.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(gestures to the other room)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Schwob's already in there.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>We follow Veber through the maze-like apartment to Willy's office. He passes through the front room which is semi-dark, its furniture covered by dust sheets.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WILLY'S STUDY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy, mid-flow, barely notices Veber enter. Schwob sits by an oil lamp, taking notes.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So something like..."all the humor and vivacity descends into...a dreadful melodramatic swamp! Or... it released the toxins of man's very soul, leaving the audience pale, and nauseous as though having eaten a bad oyster."</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>It's a bit extreme. The ending was actually quite touching.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy thinks for a moment.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Hmmph - I prefer my version.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He finally acknowledges the new arrival.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Veber!</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Willy. Schwob.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Schwob)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>So drop in those embellishments and file it at The Echo before six.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Will do.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he leaves.)</parenthetical>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>The factory's on fire... We're on fire...! Sit. I've had a remarkable idea - it could be, anyway...</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to launch a novel.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>What?!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We've had stories by Willy, music reviews by Willy. Now Willy's first novel. There'll be enough literature in it to appeal to the high-brows and enough filth for the great unwashed.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>And who's going to write it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...You are!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Veber shakes his head, absorbing this.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Brandy? Cigar?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ENTRANCE ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Schwob stops to chat to Colette by the desk. Matilde is stoking the fire.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Are you writing for him too? He's made you one of his ghosts already?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Just letters...</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>You're fastidious... exacting.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>A lot of crossing out, you mean.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>...well, yes.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy copies them out afterwards - so they are in his handwriting.</dialogue>
    <character>MATILDE</character>
    <dialogue>No one has handwriting like M. Willy.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WILLY'S STUDY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is completely absorbed in his pitch, sweat beading from his forehead as he paces.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>He first sees her, Monna, held aloft on the shoulders of her admirers.. She's eighteen, beautiful, wild and she's from the streets, eats men up, never wears a corset. And our hero, Renaud - a writer, a genius - he's captivated by her. She seduces him in her shabby rooms - five entire days of carnal bliss - but she has a powerful hold over him. She instinctively understands his base desires. We wonder - will Renaud escape - go back to his wholesome friends and his burgeoning career - or will he be dragged down by her toxic embrace, forgetting all about writing to live forever in a sexual quagmire..?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy ends with a flourish, eyes slightly damp.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette gets up from her desk, as Willy escorts Veber through the apartment.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How long do you think it will take?</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Two or three months?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No no...weeks, Veber! It has to be weeks! Write for four hours at a time...</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>All right... I'll come back to you if I get stuck.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes...Just write it...and fast! Let's get some money coming in.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Goodbye, Gabrielle.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She waves. The door closes on Veber. A piece of wallpaper has pulled free of the wall. Willy rubs it back in place.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Chaos. Working in these conditions. Absolute...chaos.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy comes over to his wife and kisses her as they walk back into the front room.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You've married a literary entrepreneur. What a phenomenal disaster.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You've married a country girl. Not a penny to her name.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We're utterly doomed aren't we?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They both laugh. She hands him the rough draft of the letter. He peruses it quickly.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Perfect... but how about; "The contract you have sent me seems eminently fair, with only one shortcoming - the money." Always pump something up before you prick it. You get more of a "POP" that way.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Unexpectedly, Willy farts.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Intimacy in all its savage abandon, my love! I've a few meetings today. Let's meet at La Mascotte at nine. No make it ten.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...Goodbye Willy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette watches him go. MUSIC COMES UP FOR THE NEXT SEQUENCE CLOSE ON A PANE OF GLASS It is greenish, uneven, and mottled. Using a tiny pair of scissors, a hand is etching the letter "W."</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LA MASCOTTE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy, Colette, Schwob, Veber and a COQUETTE, are finishing up a meal, drinking champagne. Willy is regaling them with an anecdote as he pays the bill with a roll of notes.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATRE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As Willy walks down the aisle toward his seat, he is in his element. He nods acknowledgements and greetings to everybody who is anybody. Colette follows a couple of steps behind.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - ENTRANCE ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We see the etching progress - W I L. The creator is none other than Colette, alone, absorbed in this labor of love.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette starts pulling sheets off old furniture in the living room and opening up the blinds.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In bed together, Willy is reading the evening paper as Colette nuzzles into his chest. He indicates a cartoon drawing - of himself with his trademark top hat - that Colette finds amusing.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ENTRANCE ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette completes the etching of W I L L Y on the kitchen window, taking a moment to admire her handiwork. MUSIC ENDS.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. RUE JACOB - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette walks towards home, turns into the courtyard and collects the mail.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - HALLWAY/LIVING ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>She enters, already opening the envelope and walks through the house perusing the letter - that is written in green ink.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(murmuring)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No...you're a liar.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Disgusted, she crumples it and throws it to the ground.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREETS OF PARIS - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>We follow close on Colette as she walks determinedly. The streets seem abrasive, dirty, polluted. Several STREET WALKERS ignore her as she walks by. She checks the address on the crumpled letter, looks up at the building.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COURTYARD - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette walks across the courtyard, up the stairs, across a balcony and tries the door to a small apartment. It's locked. Then she hears a familiar voice and moves over to look through a small window.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LOTTE KINCELER'S APARTMENT - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <character>WILLY (O.S.)</character>
    <dialogue>That's 153 plus 278 plus 34 plus 106 for your hats... That makes it 571. For one month, Lotte...</dialogue>
    <character>LOTTE</character>
    <dialogue>Do you want me to look cheap?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy is with the voluptuous LOTTE KINCELER. Between them the damning evidence: an accounting ledger.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>But for that money I could be laid five times as often by a prostitute.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. LOTTE'S KINCELER'S APARTMENT - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>There's the sound of a woman's raucous laughter. Colette turns to see TWO SEX-WORKERS across the courtyard. As she turns back, Willy sees her at the window. Lotte instinctively grabs a pair of dressmakers scissors.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Ah, my dear. You've come to fetch me.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COURTYARD - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Now walking back down the stairs, Colette is struggling mightily to keep her emotions in check as Willy blusters.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>She's not a disreputable woman. There's even a play about her - it's a shit play but nevertheless... I wonder who the hell wrote that letter?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't care who wrote it.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>She's no rival to you, Gabrielle. I promise, I'll never sleep with her again. But - you have to understand - this is what men do. We are the weaker sex. We don't have your strength. We are simply slaves to our urges. And here in the city - it's perfectly acceptable to...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette flies at him with inarticulate rage.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't accept it! You've been lying to me. All this time! I wait for you all day long! And I never ask you for anything because you say we have no money.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's true - we have no money.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Because you spend it all on her!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I really don't!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Then when you get into our bed...and I touch you...and I kiss you...and you say you're too tired...every night...no! No!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I've been inattentive. I'll make amends.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He reaches out to her.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you dare touch me!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She spits out the words with such venom that they bring him to a halt as she walks on.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Gabrielle! I gave up my inheritance for you! My bloody freedom!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Go to hell!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She exits through the large beaten-up gateway.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. RURAL TRAIN STATION - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The train pulls into the station. A solitary figure waits on the platform - Sido.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - BACKYARD - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sido and Colette are hanging out laundry. Colette seems to be only half-listening - her mind is elsewhere.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>...the Laurent girl had her baby last week. It was over nine pounds, but she managed well enough. She called her "Monique Françoise." The christening is next month. Oh, and the Durands moved away.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Really? Why?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>He inherited a house. In Lorraine. I'll miss them.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette manages a half smile.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>I'm glad that you're home. How long do you think you'll stay?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know, Sido.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>It must seem boring to you. Compared to Paris.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. Not at all.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - PARLOR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is stretched out on a sofa, reading a book, absently stroking a cat in her lap. A loud clock is ticking. Sido appears at the doorway.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>You must eat something.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not hungry.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>You're always hungry. Gabrielle... you're not..? {pregnant}</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. I'll eat later.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sido turns to leave but looks back at Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Come outside. Help me with the tomatoes.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SIDO'S KITCHEN GARDEN - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Sido are kneeling together in the soil. They tie some young tomato plants. An ANT crawls up one of the stems.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Agh - ants. There must be honeydew...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(feels the leaf)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes.. it's sticky.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>The white flies have probably got to it. They'll have sucked all the juice.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We need some ladybirds?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Or a spider. There's a big one that's dangling in my room. I'll catch her and put her to work out here.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette stops, looks at Sido.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Did you ever feel like you were playing a part, Sido?</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>In what way?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>As a wife... or a mother... That you were just going through the motions?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sido thinks. Inspects the other leaves.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Sometimes as a wife.. Never as a mother. Why?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette shakes her head, perturbed.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Is he good to you Gabri..?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Colette's eyes tear up)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What is it, my love?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette finally opens up...</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing's how I imagined it.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Come here...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette falls into her mother.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>My darling kitten. No one can take away what you are - no one. You're too strong for that. Always have been. Trust no one but yourself.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I know.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>What's he done to upset you?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing... Nothing.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she pulls away)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It's all - just - new... That's all. I must get used to marriage.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sido nods, looks at her daughter who looks away.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Better to make marriage get used to you.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SAINT SAUVEUR - RIVER BANK - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy and Colette walk along the dappled banks of the green slow river. She is distant. He is persistent.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you happy to be here?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. It makes the city seem even more foul...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, you are a country girl...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She rolls her eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Did you miss me?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(lies)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>No, not really.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Life has been...awful without you. Just dead.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>His tone grows more emotional. She holds firm.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I don't feel like myself at all. Everything seems...utterly pointless. I can't even write anymore... You mean more to me than all the women of Paris put together.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Have you sampled them all?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Please don't mock me.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You're happy to mock everybody else...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's true. It's all horseshit... Words are deceptive little bastards...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>but if you trace mine to their source - to my bruised, aching heart...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I wouldn't credit that as the organ of origin.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He snorts.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You know me too well.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I can read you like the top line of an optician's chart.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That's wonderful. Did you make it up?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she shakes her head exasperated)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Just...tell me what you want, Gabrielle. And I'll do it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She turns faces him.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I know who you are, Willy... And maybe I knew all along. But I want you not to lie to me.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I won't. Never again! I promise.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't want to be treated like a little wife at home. I want to know what's going on. Whatever it may be. I want to be... part of things.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You will be. You will be part of everything.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He gives her his most sincere eyes. He puts his arms round her and their voices get quieter as they walk further away.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...and I'll even buy you a dog.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm being serious.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So am I.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he looks around)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>This river is so beautiful.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, me and Luce used to come swimming here after school.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You did? She was your best friend, wasn't she?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No - but she was always with me.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - BEDROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is now in bed, Colette is undressing. They talk quietly so as not to wake Sido.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Sometimes she could be sweet.. but she could also be very annoying.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>In what way?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Well, she was clumsy, more than anything. One day in winter, when the first snows started, I made a compact little snowball and smuggled it into the classroom. As Miss Terrain was writing I passed it along to the next person..</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She strips down to her underclothes, shivers slightly.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Brrrrrr.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Get in. I'm like a pot-bellied stove.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette gets in and clings to him. Willy warms her hands.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It finally got to Luce.. who "dropped" it..We both got detention. ..she'd do anything to be close to me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy laughs.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I bet she did.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He kisses her. They re-engage passionately and make love.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOME - UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sido, in her nightgown, carries an oil lamp down the corridor. From Colette's bedroom comes the rhythmic creaking of the bed springs that she does her best to ignore.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PARIS - MORNING - 1895</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An aerial shot moves over the rooftops, churches, squares and streets of Paris.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette comes out of the kitchen eating a peach. A little BULLDOG comes scampering after her. This is Toby Chien. She hears an argument and moves stealthily through the apartment to ascertain its source. Through the door she sees Pierre Veber (angry) and Schwob (diplomatic) in front of Willy's desk.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Get out! Both of you! This is harassment!</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, come on. You're not being fair.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>This is the third time I've had to come round and ask you for it!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Then stop coming round and bloody well asking!</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>I am close to being evicted. You owe me 400 francs. You'd get the advance from Ollendorff you said!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And I will - by Friday.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>You said that last week.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>A factory needs to pay its workers, Willy!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Go on strike then! Get some other idiot to hire you! Leave me alone! Both of you! I'll have your money by Friday.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>You'd better bloody have it!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Veber walks briskly into the living room, nods to Colette, too angry to speak, and exits. Schwob follows, saying goodbye. Willy emerges, forlorn, and starts to get ready to leave.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Damn them! They'd never get published by themselves. I lend them my name, my reputation... I take all the risk. And there's no money. We simply need more output.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You could get another writer in.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And pay them with what? We only have about 1000 coming in this month - 300 from the Echo, 425 for the next vamp novel and 250 from the music reviews. But it doesn't cover our outgoings.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>How can we spend that much?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>The mortgage, Matilde, restaurants...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You always pick up the bill, Willy, however many people join us.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's expected.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And the casino. And the races...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What do you want me to do? Live like a monk? Or a peasant?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm just saying we could economize. Mademoiselle Terrain always used to say, "Look after the pennies and.."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Then lightning strikes...</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You... You!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You could write them up. Those stories of Saint-Sauveur you told me last year. They could be Willy's next novel.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>My school stories?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. There may be something there...You must start straight away, my love. Aim for four hours at a time - the wolves are at the door!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He goes back to his study. Colette's mind is racing.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ENTRANCE ROOM - MOMENT'S LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sitting at a desk, exercise book open, Colette dips her fountain pen in the ink. A statuette of Willy is perched in the front of the desk, overlooking her. She writes SCHOOL NOTES BY GABRIELLE-SIDONIE COLETTE on the first page. Then...</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>My name is Claudine. I live in... Montigny. I was born there in...1881. I shall probably not die there.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - LATE</stage_direction>
    <character>EVENING</character>
    <dialogue>From directly above, we see Willy trudging upstairs.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM - LATE EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Moments later, a rather tipsy Willy enters the bedroom. Colette is in bed, her eyes wide open.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Why aren't you sleeping?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I only just stopped writing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy sits on the bed, belches, and takes off his boots.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Did you manage four hours...?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Twice that. At least.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Really?! You must be a natural!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I've changed a few things...for the story. But it might ruffle a few feathers back home.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't worry about the facts. You can add a character, make up an event. Adapt it to the times! All people really want is the feeling, the emotion - that great sweep of narrative.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>So I should just write what I want?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes! No one will ever dispute it - and if they do... "It is the hand that holds the pen that writes history."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Spontaneously, Colette comes over to him, wraps her arms around him from behind and nibbles on his ear. He doesn't respond.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You're not in the mood?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm tired as a bear in winter... Save it for the book!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. ENTRANCE ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MUSIC STARTS UP. We see Colette label a new exercise book SCHOOL NOTES PART 3 before she starts on the fresh page.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>"These are the copses, where bushes spitefully catch your face as you pass. Those are full of sun and strawberries and lilies-of-the-valley and...snakes. I've shuddered there with choking terror at the sight of those dreadful, smooth, cold bodies gliding in front of my feet.'</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She is completely absorbed.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>"I feel so much alone there, my eyes lost far away amongst the trees, in the green, mysterious daylight that is at once deliciously peaceful and a little unnerving because of the loneliness and the vague darkness."</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WILLY'S STUDY - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>There's a pile of five notebooks on Willy's desk with a ribbon round them and a label that says "For Willy." Seated behind his desk, Willy unties the precious package, picks up the first book and settles in to read it. After a few pages he takes a cigar and lights it.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is playing with TOBY CHIEN on the floor. She gets up and looks at the grandfather clock in the hall - 1:30.</scene_description>
    <character>HALF AN HOUR LATER</character>
    <dialogue>Willy emerges with the books. Colette is on the sofa with the dog, a novel open in front of her. He smiles, congratulatory but awkward.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well... there we are. You did it. I take my hat off to you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's... beautiful. I spent the whole day in Saint-Sauveur.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You don't like it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I do...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Truth?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. The nature descriptions are... charming.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>"Charming...?"</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy heads off to boudoir.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, perfectly charming! Sorry, I need to take a piss.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What else?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing - really - it's a truly wonderful depiction.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>She follows him into the bedroom. He goes into the adjoining boudoir, takes out a chamber pot and starts pissing. She flops onto the bed.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...And?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We won't be able to get it published is the shame of it...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What's wrong with it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Honestly...?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She nods. He takes a breath.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So...I'll treat you like any other writer I'm giving a report to, shall I?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Except I love you. I adore you. Let's be clear about that.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Just tell me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He finishes up, zips up, and comes into the bedroom.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>There's nothing driving it. No plot. A novel by Willy... It grips you from page one. Yours has...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he gestures)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...too many adjectives. Some of the characters are interesting but overall... Well, it's just too cloying. Too...feminine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She says nothing, stares at the floor, anger mounting.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Well that was a waste of nine months.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Not if you enjoyed it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Not wanting to break in front of Willy, she storms off, through the apartment.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WILLY'S STUDY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette slams the door behind her, eyes brimming with tears. She opens the notebook and looks at the first page. It says, "School Notes by Gabrielle-Sidonie Colette." She takes a pen, crosses out her name. And stops, leaving the single word "Colette." She looks at it for a moment, tears in her eyes, and underlines it.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - MUSIC ROOM - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A makeshift stage, where the famous mime artist, WAGUE, performs a lip-sync sketch, accompanied by a PIANIST and a FEMALE SINGER. The audience is transfixed by his mastery of the form. Colette and Schwob are at the edge of the crowd. Colette is dressed in black and white, her style feels modern and edgy - well ahead of the fussily-dressed socialites.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Wague's mesmerizing, isn't he?</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Yes - he's the king of cantomime...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The song plays out its last few lines. Everyone bursts into applause.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Let's get a drink.</dialogue>
    <character>MOMENTS LATER</character>
    <dialogue>Two champagne glasses are taken off a tray.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(to the servant)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thank you, Geraud.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Cheers.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They clink glasses.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>How's it going with your book?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's gone. I tried but it wasn't any good.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>I can't believe it.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy hated it. I don't care. I don't need to leave a mark on this world.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Give me a flock of starlings and that will intoxicate me. Something real. Not just doing lines for the headmaster..</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(takes a moment)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Did you always write, Schwob?</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't really have a choice. It was simply... There.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Does it make you happy?</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Oh god no! I do it to prevent me from going mad. But sometimes, occasionally, it will transport me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This registers with Colette. Despite her bravura - she misses it. They are interrupted by a beautiful couple; GASTON and JEANNE de CAILLAVET.</scene_description>
    <character>GASTON</character>
    <dialogue>Hello Schwob! Good to see you.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Hello Gaston, Jeanne. Do you know Colette?</dialogue>
    <character>JEANNE</character>
    <dialogue>I think we've been introduced but... I don't remember that name.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's new - in a manner of speaking.</dialogue>
    <character>JEANNE</character>
    <dialogue>Well then, I will think of this as our first meeting.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Schwob looks from one to the other, sensing a definite energy.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - ENTRY ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Madame de Caillavet is demonstrating the newly installed LIGHT SWITCH to WILLY, who seems distracted.</scene_description>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>It's so easy. On and off. No more sooty candles.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, maybe one day they will do my building.</dialogue>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>It's so much safer too. Even if the light is a little... bright.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed. If you'll excuse me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy makes his exit and looks through the crowd for Colette. He rounds a corner and sees, through one room in which PEOPLE ARE DANCING, into a far room where Colette, GASTON and JEANNE DE CAILLAVET are sitting together. 62a INT. MME. DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - SMOKING ROOM 62a The newly introduced friends are all already quite tipsy. They are sitting in front of a MIRRORED WALL that reflects the DANCERS. Gaston is reading Colette's palm. As Willy stares, a flicker of jealousy passes through his eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>GASTON</character>
    <dialogue>You have a long life line. Very strong head line - here. And your love line splits in three.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And what could that mean?</dialogue>
    <character>JEANNE</character>
    <dialogue>Who knows?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Gaston laughs, somewhat flirtatiously.</scene_description>
    <character>GASTON</character>
    <dialogue>So many intersecting lines.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I have the hands of a man - see.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She measures up to Gaston - hers are larger.</scene_description>
    <character>JEANNE</character>
    <dialogue>You have a touch of Hermes, Colette. There's something androgynous about you.</dialogue>
    <character>GASTON</character>
    <dialogue>No, I know what it is. You've the soul of Narcissus! Filled with sensuality and bitterness.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>My soul is filled with beans and bacon rinds. You'll find nothing else there.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They all laugh. Willy arrives in front of them.</scene_description>
    <character>GASTON DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, you ogre, how are you? We've been greatly enjoying the company of Colette - now she is no longer hiding her light under a bushel.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Quoting the good book, Gaston? You may remember a little verse about coveting other men's wives.</dialogue>
    <character>GASTON</character>
    <dialogue>And you may remember one about not trying to remove a speck from your brother's eye with a log in your own.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(amused)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Touché Gaston. Your wits are improving... somewhat. We'd better go now, darling.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CARRIAGE - MOVING - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>His first play was absolute rubbish - but his mother runs a salon, so of course it was a huge success and he was praised to the skies for his brilliant "writing" and sublime "talent." Unctuous prick... He was after you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, he's not that type. Besides they just got married.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>They're no longer on honeymoon, my dear.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at him, slightly amused...</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Your jealousy is misplaced.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Why so..?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It was actually his wife I found interesting.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Jeanne?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy considers this.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What would you think of that?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, that's a different case.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It is?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy smiles to himself.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STAIRCASE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>From above we see two burly men ascending the staircase.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - DAY - 1898</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A knock at the door. Colette answers to two rough-looking bailiffs.</scene_description>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Good Morning, Ma'am. I need to speak to the gentleman of the house.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Monsieur Henri Gautier Villar - Is he in?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You can speak to me about whatever it is.</dialogue>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Sorry ma'am.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy walks up the hallway.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Sir, I have a repossession order for two arm chairs, one armoire, one oak desk.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Do you have the court papers?</dialogue>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Here you are. All in order.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy surveys them and resigned, steps to the side.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's only bits of wood.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to the Bailiffs)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The chairs are in the front parlour. Armoire's in the bedroom.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>With all my clothes in...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Clear it out! I'll see to the desk.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She storms off in exasperation. Willy goes into the office.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - OFFICE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The desk is surrounded by piles of paper and envelopes. He clears the papers out of the second lowest drawer and opens the bottom drawer. Inside are a stack of school notebooks - Colette's novel. He picks them out of the drawer.</scene_description>
    <character>BAILIFF</character>
    <dialogue>Ready?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Take it! Take it away!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He opens the book and flips through a few pages. Then a few more, his curiosity aroused.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy sits on a single chair in the middle of the room. This time he's engaged - gripped! He makes margin notes in spidery handwriting.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I am a bloody idiot.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Then, he skips back to the first page where it says "School Notes by (crossing out) Colette." He neatly rips out the page and screws it up.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - WILLY'S STUDY - NIGHT</character>
    <dialogue>In a pool of gaslight, Willy and Colette are seated at the desk. Willy is going through his notes.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...example, "it's a lovely spring morning," liven it up. How about:</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(grand gesture)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>"Perhaps it's the season. It's too fine - almost disgracefully fine."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She scribbles it down.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And page 29 - that scene with Luce.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he finds it)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I've added: "she brushes up against me suggestively, her blue eyes half closed and her mouth half-open."</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>That's quite louche.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Louche sells, my dear. Trust me - all we need is a little more spice, a little less literature. I know what men want. And so do the publishers.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette ponders this for a moment - not completely satisfied.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And you really think they'll take it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes! Ollendorff will go nuts for it.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(ironically)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>As you did on first reading.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well never mind about that now. We've got to work work work...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PRINTERS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The presses are rolling, pumping out copies of the novel.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PRINTER'S COURTYARD - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Crates of the book are being loaded onto a HORSE-DRAWN WAGON. OMITTED</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOOK SHOP WINDOW</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A SHOP CLERK builds the Claudine books onto a pyramid- shaped display. Behind is a sign: "CLAUDINE AT SCHOOL, BY WILLY."</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MADAME DE CAILLAVET'S SALON - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rachilde (the journalist) is reading her own review out loud to a crowd that includes Willy.</scene_description>
    <character>RACHILDE</character>
    <dialogue>"...Claudine is a young girl from a small village, yet, she is all of us. Feisty, opinionated, selfish and sensual, she astounds us with her moxie, her desires and her crimes!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The crowd let's out an "Oooo."</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BOOK SHOP - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A Cousin Bette-type OLD MAID is in line with the book. In front of her, TWO SCHOOL GIRLS have purchased a copy.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE PARK - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A YOUNG NANNY is reading the book, ignoring the CRYING BABY in the perambulator beside her. 75a EXT. CONVENT - DAY 75a A nun has abandoned her holy book to read Claudine.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Jules watches, as Sido opens a package revealing the book.</scene_description>
    <character>JULES</character>
    <dialogue>Look at that!</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <parenthetical>(critically)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes, look at it...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. SALON - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rachilde continues reading her rave review - to Willy.</scene_description>
    <character>RACHILDE</character>
    <dialogue>"It took an extraordinary man to define this modern young woman. Willy, your book will change the world.."</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she raises a glass)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>To Claudine!</dialogue>
    <character>SALON-GOERS</character>
    <dialogue>To Claudine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Schwob and Colette watch from a corner.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>All Paris is saying your husband is a genius.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And what do you say?</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>He is, if that book is anything to go by.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette smiles, indicates Willy with her eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Look at him. I haven't seen him as happy for a long time.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>In the center of the room Willy is up on some FRIENDS shoulders, uncorking champagne. Colette gives Schwob a tight lipped smile. Something is rankling her but she won't confess it - yet! MUSIC ENDS.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PUBLISHING HOUSE - OFFICE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy and OLLENDORFF, the publisher, are finishing up a meeting in OLLENDORFF'S double high book-lined office.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Well, we've never had one fly off the shelves like this before. Quite a phenomenon. Everyone's talking about it. And you know who's buying it? Young women!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Really, I thought...that's interesting.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>We've also been having enquiries about theatrical rights. Any thoughts?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course, the theatre is the next logical step! With as large a stage as possible!</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>It's the theatre-going public which will make you rich, Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Make us all rich, my dear Ollendorff.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They laugh as they leave the room.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PUBLISHING HOUSE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is waiting by a carriage outside. She sees Willy and Ollendorff coming down the stairs, talking business, but can't quite make out what they are saying.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So what size are you thinking of..?</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps - 20,000 units or 25,000 somewhere in that ballpark. I'm waiting to see what the pre-orders are like back from the sellers.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And what kind of return would that yield?</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Well, we're calculating about 3 francs a unit profit - so, yes - it's a tidy sum.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The men push through the double doors and are now fully audible.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Mme. Willy, a great honor.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>A pleasure to meet you.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Listen! Claudine At School is heading for her third printing.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Excellent.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>I believe that Willy based "Claudine" in part on your school days?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, I believe I had a little something to contribute.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ollendorff chuckles. Willy's smile is stretched thin.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I'm very glad your experiences have borne such wonderful fruit. Very nice to meet you, Madame.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PUBLISHERS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy climbs in next to Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Gare de Lyon.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Where're we going?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You'll find out.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CARRIAGE - MOVING - MINUTES LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is uncharacteristically quiet.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Is something wrong?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What do you think is wrong?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Finally...finally we've a success. And then you imply that I'm not the true author of it.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I didn't... Most books are "based on" something.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Listen, we're holding dynamite here. We have created something very powerful. But if it goes off at the wrong time it will blow our bloody heads off.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It was only Ollendorff. He's your publisher, Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Schwob also said something.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Schwob's part of the factory.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>People love to talk. They'll praise you to your face, but as soon as you turn around...Tch! The knives are in your back. You don't know the mentality here. I do.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I know it well enough to write a book that's the toast of Paris.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Shout it to the streets then. Tell people. Roll up for the massacre...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette sighs, Willy really is quite upset. The matter seems to cut to the core of his identity.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry. Perhaps I overreacted... Anyway, I've a surprise for you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What is it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Then it wouldn't be a surprise... We're going to the country.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette smiles, puts her head on his shoulder.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Good. This city is driving me mad.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. FOREST - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy walk through trees, holding hands.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What's that one?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Lime.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And that one?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Douglas Fir.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And that one?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Chestnut...A weeping Chestnut.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know why you love nature so much. Animals are vile to each other.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Animals are honest at least. They never lie.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well yes, my dear, that is because they can't speak.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They come out of the trees into a clearing. There is a small lawn in front of a neoclassical country home.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Look at that!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, it's somebody's house.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Wonder who lives there.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's beautiful.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm thirsty. Let's see if they'll stand us a drink.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He marches towards the house. She follows.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, they might shoot at us!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY HOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy and Colette stand at the door. He knocks and rings a bell. He waits a moment then rings again.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Wait... they might be upstairs.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Or deaf... They've been deafened by all the country silence.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Shhh... I thought I heard something.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Give me a kiss.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy is on good form and charming Colette. She kisses him, aware too that the door might open.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Someone might come.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Good...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He tries the door, it's locked. Kisses her again.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Put your hand in my pocket. There's something there for you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He leads her hand downward. Slightly puzzled, Colette reaches into Willy's pocket and retrieves... a key!</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Allow me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy takes the key, puts it in the lock and turns it. The lock springs open.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>They enter the formerly-grand old house - still beautiful but dilapidated. The rooms glow luminous in the last of the sun.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What do you think?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...Whose house is it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>For you, my love, my heart. Lest Paris drive you mad.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's yours. You're always talking about missing the countryside.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy kisses the key and gives it to Colette who stares at him and then again at the house.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, I can't believe it.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Somewhere for you to write. And be alone.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette hugs him lovingly, then breaks off.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>So...where did you get the money?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I got an advance from Ollendorff. 25,000 Francs.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>For what?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>For the next book. "Claudine in Paris."</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?! I can't do another Claudine.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Just write about us! Our lives! Our friends! Change the names. Create gossip!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We'll talk about the details later.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he looks up at the house)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>So...do you like it?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette takes in the house's impressive dimensions.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's indescribable.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No such word. A good writer should be able to describe anything no matter what.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Inside, WORKERS are scraping the paint off the living room floor. The room is unfurnished with peeling wallpaper. 85a INT. COUNTRY HOUSE 85a Two workers carry in a sofa. Colette follows carrying a chair.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY HOUSE - GARDEN - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette digs a wild patch of garden. She is sweaty and covered in earth but hugely exhausted and content. She plants carrots, turnips and sweet pea shoots below their sticks. In the background, we see the hoops of an OUTDOOR GYM.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette watches from the window as a carriage pulls into the driveway. The floors are now polished, the wallpaper redone, the place fully furnished.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LIVING ROOM - MINUTES LATER</stage_direction>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>This is it? Your total output for all these weeks?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy stands, holding a few manuscript pages.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I had to do the house - all the repairs. The painting, the tiling...pruning the roses.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Bugger the roses. We have a deadline.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's actually harder to write out here... Alone. And I don't want to write another Claudine.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you out of your mind? Claudine is a franchise! Do you realize how rare this moment is? When people are begging for more? Come.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He walks her through the house and up the stairs.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What would the headmaster do if Claudine had not done her homework?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy. Don't be silly.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(serious)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What would he do?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(sarcastic)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Make her do lines? Put her over his knee and tan her hide?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Correct.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He arrives at the door of the study and stands expectantly at the door jamb as she walks past him into the study.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'll start tomorrow.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But Willy closes the door and turns the key in the lock.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No! Willy!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Write!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy!!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You will do as I say! I will return in four hours and I expect to see pages.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pockets the key and goes off.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. STUDY - CONTINUOUS</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Frustrated, she tries the door handle. It's locked.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy!! This isn't funny.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She bangs on the door, anger building.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>LET ME OUT!!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(kicks the door.)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Bastard...absolute...arrogant bastard! I'll write the bloody book! And I'll tell them it was me! Me! Me who wrote it! Bastard! I'll tell them! Claudine is mine! Mine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She stands back breathing hard. Then turns with a look of resignation to the writing desk.</scene_description>
    <character>MOMENTS LATER</character>
    <dialogue>She sits for a moment, still smarting from the exchange, dips her pen in the ink and writes "Claudine in Paris."</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOOK SHOP WINDOW - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Close on a book - CLAUDINE IN PARIS It is revealed as part of a HUGE shop display. A LARGE SIGN announces "THE LATEST NOVEL FROM WILLY." In front of it is a large pyramid of books. MUSIC ENDS</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A beautiful day, PARISIANS are promenading and riding bicycles and velocipedes in the open air. Colette and Willy are pedaling a tandem. She's at the front, putting in most of the leg work, he, true to form, is taking it easy at the back. Under the trees, a cafe has been set up with delicate folding chairs and small round tables. A few dozen SOCIETY TYPES are enjoying tea and cakes. Depositing their tandem by a tree. Colette and Willy approach. There is a feeling that all eyes are on them. Walking through the tables they go past a beautiful red-headed heiress, named GEORGIE Raoul Duval. She is taking tea with her companion, a pretty young girl named LILY.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Colette and Willy are here!</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>So they are. Don't stare.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Across the patio, Colette and Willy are seated by a WAITER. Georgie takes out a small card and scribbles a note.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Go take this to them.</dialogue>
    <character>MOMENTS LATER</character>
    <dialogue>Post-exercise the couple are eating cake.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Mmmm. It's good.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Indeed.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He looks round.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How many people here do you think are reading Claudine in Paris - right now?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>At least three quarters, I'd say. And those who haven't yet will soon catch up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He notices Lily weaving through the tables towards them.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What comes this way?</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>M. Willy, Mme. Colette, I have a note for you....from Mrs. Raoul Duval.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Clearly a little starstruck, she hands Willy the note and he surveys it.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(remembering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Mrs. Raoul Duval. Georgie Raoul Duval?</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh... wonderful!.. Please go tell your mistress we accept her invitation and look forward to her delightful company.</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <parenthetical>(thrilled)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I will!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And off she goes.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Who is she?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(under his breath)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...An American - a wayward debutante from Louisiana.. she married a munitions magnate three times her age.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>They sound a bit dull.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>He is. She is anything but.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(glances at her)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>We don't have to...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. Let's go...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAFE NOIR - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In the high ceilinged cafe, we follow a WAITER who drops a bill off at a table where Georgie and Colette are in fits of hysterics - the kind of laughter sustained by the seriously drunk and flirtatious. Willy is providing the after-dinner entertainment. Lily sits by them, awed at getting to spend time with such celebrities, autograph book at the ready.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(almost crying with laughter)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That's so funny. Did he really say that?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes - he would. He is such a colossal snob.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Then Mme de Caillavet happened to mention that he was only a baron and not a Marquise. "Allow me, he said "I am also Duke of Anjou, Bishop of Coutances, Prince of Joinville, of Asturias, of Orléans and the Dunes. But all that isn't of the slightest importance...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(with perfect timing)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>...here."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Everyone howls with laughter. A stray curl of her hair falls down over Georgie's face.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Wait a moment.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette takes the lock and tries to pat it back into place. A moment of electricity passes between the two. Willy watches fascinated.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hold still. That's it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She takes her hands away. The disobedient lock immediately falls back down. The women lose it. The waiter comes back by the table.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(paying the bill)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Here you are.</dialogue>
    <character>WAITER</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, Monsieur Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Is the evening over already? I can't bear it...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(turning to her assistant)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Lily, go tell the coachman to ready the carriage.</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lily doesn't get up though.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Well..?</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry Ma'am but...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(thrusting an autograph book forward)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>M. Willy, may I have your autograph..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course! My pleasure. I'll even do you a doodle. Of me.</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh thank you!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hands it back. Georgie looks impatient.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>And yours too Madame Colette.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh come now...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Not at all. Spirit should always be rewarded.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She returns the book to Lily who positively vibrates with excitement.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Good night, my dear.</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>Good night!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hurries off.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Well... I live at 74 Rue Goethe. If you'd like to stop by for at nightcap...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The question hangs in the air.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you so much. But I feel like I will retire this evening.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Are you sure now?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We'll play again soon, my dear.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes...I hope so. Before my bore of a husband returns. Well adieu!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And she's gone. Willy weighs this.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You don't want to go?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>The invitation was clearly for you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This really lands for Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>... Should I?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, of course.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You don't mind?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'd be a hypocrite if I did, wouldn't I?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette considers this.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>If it's any comfort to you, I will be at home lying in bed, thinking of the two of you in the fondest way possible.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette slowly ascends the dark staircase. Hiding her nervousness and her excitement. She knocks on the door. After a moment's waiting Georgie answers.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Come in.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Georgie's apartment, naturally, is very stylish.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What a nice place.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. This is my little pied-a-tere. Frederick is not so keen on the Art Nouveau pieces. But I love nature...and women.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at a painting of nymphs bathing.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I can see that.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>I remember in Claudine At School when the girls go swimming together at night...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Night is the best time to swim.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>When I was a girl, I was told all the lakes in Louisiana have alligators. So I never went for a midnight swim but I regret it...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Georgie looks down then raises her eyes towards Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>When you raise your eyelids, it's as if you were taking off all my clothes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Georgie looks down, blushing.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't look away. Look at me. Look at me looking at you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She does. It's electric. Colette slowly moves in and kisses her for a long hot moment.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>You have the most beautiful teeth.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She indicates Colette's slightly angled front canine.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Like an alligator.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They smile and kiss again.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is perusing the morning mail. He hears the sound of Colette entering and, affecting nonchalance, carries on reading. Colette enters, also acting cool.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My dear...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Have you fed Toby Chien?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I forgot. I thought Matilde does it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She heads down the hallway towards the kitchen. He stops her with a question.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How was last night?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It was..interesting.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What happened?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What do you think happened?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Ah... well don't tell me. I'll wait to read about it. When Claudine develops tender feelings towards a lady friend.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette rolls her eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I won't be writing it down.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>But you must... It's prime material!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She heads out.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Will you see her again?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(calling out)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Probably.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy is somewhat unsettled by his wife's casualness and... independence.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As Georgie is finishing up her morning toilet, there's the ring of a doorbell.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <parenthetical>(murmurs)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>One moment, my darling.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She hastily wraps herself in a gown and makes her way through the apartment. As she opens the door she is taken a back to see the bald pate of Monsieur Willy.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Wonderful, you're here.. I was just passing by...</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He continues to stare at her. She flushes slightly.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well -</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>You'd better come in.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>97a INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - ENTRANCE ROOM - 97a</scene_description>
    <character>LATE AFTERNOON</character>
    <dialogue>Colette is working away in her small room. The front door goes and Willy comes in.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How's the writing going?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Slow...painful... How was your meeting with the bank?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Good... yes, it was good. I won't bore you with the details.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He heads off. She continues writing.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGIE'S STREET - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MUSIC COMES UP. A carriage pulls up outside the beautiful residence. Colette gets out and surveys it.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette approaches the door and knocks.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Is she in?</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, please come in.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lily leaves as Colette enters. Inside, Colette turns towards Georgie's bedroom.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>She's expecting you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Lily gives Colette a smile and leaves discreetly.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGIE'S STREET - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A carriage pulls up - but this time it's Willy who gets out.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy approaches the door. Georgie opens it. He takes off his top hat and hands it to her as he goes in.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Georgie make mad passionate love. INT GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - EVENING Now Georgie is making love to Willy - with equal fervor. 103a INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - NIGHT 103a Colette and Georgie;s passion continues to heat up... 103b INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - AFTERNOON 103b Georgie and Willy come to climax.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGIE'S STREET - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette walks down the street looks up at the apartment. Someone who looks suspiciously like Willy is at the window.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette marches up the stairs, rings the bell.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Georgie! I know you're in there.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Still no answer. Colette knocks hard on the door.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Georgie. Open up!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>More loud knocks. Eventually Georgie answers in a nightgown.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Colette, I was taking a nap.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette pushes past her.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Who's been in here?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>No one. What are you doing?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks to the bedroom where tell-tale cigar smoke hangs in layers.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - STUDY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is writing at her desk.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Blue cigar smoke feted the air...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she pauses, crosses out, then continues)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I marched in and looked straight in the face of the Renaud. He recoiled, saying, "It was wicked of me. I'm sorry."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at the statue of Willy on her desk, wistfully.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Rezi was there, of course she was there - covering herself up...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - STUDY - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy's voices merge as the story transfers over.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...I shall always remember her lily</dialogue>
    <scene_description>white face decomposing, as if it were dying right under my gaze. Once again at the desk under the circle of light, Willy is reading aloud from the notebooks, giving his customary polish to the latest Claudine. Colette sits quietly by as this chapter of their own lives is read. But she has more confidence now - more poise. She is growing into herself. He sets the book down. A moment's thought.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's good.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I know.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'd suggest you change the line when Renaud says, "It was wicked of me to do it." But I know that you won't.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(piqued)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>What do you think Renaud would say, in those circumstances?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Hmmm...something like, "Why...we were waiting for you, my dear."</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't think she would believe him.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course not.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This is a sore point.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>But don't you think she's being hypocritical - I mean, it's acceptable for Claudine to sleep with Rezi but she doesn't want Renaud to do the same?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Not behind her back, no. The betrayal came when Renaud lied to her. Renaud who swore he would always be honest.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps he wanted to tell her, but he was frightened of her terrible jealousy?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Then he was a coward as well as a liar.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You're very harsh on him.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Who else will be? And Renaud would never be jealous? If for instance, Claudine went off with.. A young man, for a change?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>He would find that unacceptable.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Infidelity, for Renaud is a matter of gender.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It is...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(clears his throat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How long have you known..?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>For a month or so.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette has won this one. Willy clears his throat.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well I must say, I'm impressed with the way you've handled yourself. The younger Claudine would have thrown a fit.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm planning on killing Renaud off in the next one.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No - you can't. Please.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(quoting Willy)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>"The hand that holds the pen writes history."</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy shoots her an amused but slightly threatened look.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Renaud's moral shadings aside, the writing is very good. Quite a work of art. Those little scratches you make on the paper -</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he indicates)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>- very powerful. And it will have a powerful effect. Everyone will immediately know whom it's about, there will be a huge scandal, the books will spread like thistledown all over France.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And M. Willy will have yet another hot book on his hands.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>An uneasy truce has been declared.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You know what? I'm tempted to go back and put even more Georgie into Rezi.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, we have to draw the line somewhere.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Why, my dear? Our marriage is already public domain.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PRINTING PRESS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MUSIC COMES UP: The pages of the new novel fly rapidly out of the machine.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PUBLISHING HOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Ollendorff hands a brand new hardback copy of "Claudine en Menage by Willy" to Willy who nods approvingly.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Georgie pours a glass of brandy for Colette. She is clearly wound up but trying to remain civilized.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>My husband - he's just...pure rage. He was going to challenge Willy to a duel...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>I've put him off. Hopefully it won't come to that.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she looks at Colette)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You've read it, yes?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I have.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>How worried should I be?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Georgie walks across to her with the drink.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>The names have all been changed. It's not blatantly obvious who is who...</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't believe you. Everyone is chattering about it - saying it will be salacious in the extreme.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(She clears her throat)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I know you have no time for me since our separation and I know I behaved badly. But I'm begging you... Ask Willy to change it - before publication?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette slowly shakes her head.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>Please Colette... One woman to another? Please...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No, I can't.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>You'd let me suffer?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's not just Willy, Georgie, it's... the book itself...Willy thinks it's a work of art.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Georgie downs her drink and switches gears - no more tears, a hardness comes to her eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>You had your chance to be decent. So, it will be left to my husband to settle it. Ollendorff has agreed to a lump sum for the destruction of the entire print run.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What? You can't do that.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>He has already accepted.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>The sly bastard. You can't. You just can't.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>We have. And that is how it is.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette finally snaps.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You are a duplicitous bitch.</dialogue>
    <character>GEORGIE</character>
    <dialogue>I had a good teacher.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette leaves slamming the door. Georgie looks after her.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GEORGIE'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette leaves the house in a rage.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PRINTER'S COURTYARD - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A WORKER pours petrol on a bonfire of novels then throws his cigarette butt on it to ignite the pile. It bursts into flame immediately. Charred pages rise with the heat. The worker takes another crate and dumps them on.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LA MASCOTTE - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy are with Schwob in their favorite dining spot feasting on oysters and champagne. There is an unexpected air of celebration.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Like a true French heroine, our daughter was burnt at the stake.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I said it would be a "hot book."</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>The thing is though, Ollendorff signed the deal but unfortunately failed to mention...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(drum rolls the table...)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>That he didn't own the copyright. I do.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Unbelievable!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>All I had to do was trot round to another publisher and collect a second advance. The presses are hard at it as we speak.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>How do you two do it?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I think we got very lucky...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Not at all! That American tart and her senile lackey didn't stand a chance. We are with the times! The wind is under our wings! And I have a little plan that will make Claudine the most popular girl in France, if not the entire world.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>With the play?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Not just that. We'll have Claudine perfume, Claudine lingerie, Claudine soap.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>She will literally be a household name.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They all laugh.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATRE - DAY - 1903</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>On a blackboard, in chalk is written "CLAUDINE AUDITIONS." An insipid actress is cooing her way though the dialogue.</scene_description>
    <character>INSIPID ACTRESS</character>
    <dialogue>My name is Claudine. I live in Montigny. I was born there in 1881. I shall probably not die there...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy are sitting in the tenth row of the theatre. In front of them are the DIRECTOR and two FINANCIERS. Colette, now in her late twenties, seems to have grown comfortable in her skin. Willy, on the other hand, is showing the tell-tale signs of a life too-well lived.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>She's not bad.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>She's terrible.</dialogue>
    <character>INSIPID ACTRESS</character>
    <dialogue>Montigny is a village, not a town: its streets, thank heaven, are not paved; the showers roll down them in little torrents that dry up in a couple hours; it is a village, not even a very pretty village, but, all the same, I adore it.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Colette)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Yes, you're right.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(shouts)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thank you very much. Next.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A SECOND ACTRESS comes up on stage and starts repeating the line. Colette notices the impressive hourglass silhouette of a woman in the rear doorway. The woman marches down the aisle and plants herself in front of them. Wearing a schoolgirl smock, she is vibrant, Algerian, with bobbed hair and a tiny waist. This is POLAIRE.</scene_description>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>M. Willy. I am the real Claudine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy exchange an intrigued look.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And you are?</dialogue>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>Me? My name is...Polaire!</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy sit, examining photographs of Polaire.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Polaire! Polaire! Daughter of the desert. Look at her! Look at her! She knows the role instinctively.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>She talks about the book as though it were a religion.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>A "Sister of Perpetual Claudine."</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's interesting. She's started to copy little gestures and mannerisms that I do.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Do you think I could act?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You? No. It would be a criminal waste.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Waste of what?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy shrugs, dismissing the thought. He picks up a photo and examines it closer.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That bobbed hair... I've never seen anything like it. Have you?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(suspicious)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I always imagined Claudine had long hair.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That was the 19th Century Claudine...this is now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He holds the picture up beside her.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Would look good on you, actually. Very fetching.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. Willy, I couldn't.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It would make you look younger.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Really?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You're turning thirty soon - what better time to turn the clocks...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you... But I've always had my hair... Sido would kill me.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Just think of it... You and Polaire - The Claudine Twins!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What!?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It'll be a goldmine of publicity. All Paris will be atwitter.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No! Never... in a thousand years.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HAIR SALON - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Scissors hack through thick long tresses. A HAIRDRESSER shows Colette her new bob in a mirror that reflects the back. Colette gives a prim, uptight nod.</scene_description>
    <character>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - EVENING</character>
    <dialogue>Colette enters the room shorn. The haircut looks awkward - it hasn't quite settled in yet. Willy looks up from his newspaper and stares at her amazed.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My word! Where have you gone?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, I hate it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy circles his strange new wife.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No... I like it very much.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's absurd. My head looks too big for my body.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It'll just take a bit of getting used to...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette goes to a mirror.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh - what did I do?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette covers her face with her hands. She starts to hyperventilate, holding back sobs.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>She butchered me. I look ten years older. You made me do this.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh come now, you went along with it... you always do.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Unexpectedly, she flies at him. He holds her arms away from his chest. As they struggle -</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You bastard! Look at me...and all for your damned publicity?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Gabrielle!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You crowd-pleaser! You cheap bastard!! You shit!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She starts beating on his chest. And keeps going... until she is exhausted and breaks into tears.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. THEATER - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A poster announces "CLAUDINE IN PARIS - TONIGHT" as CROWDS make their way in.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATER - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Starting on the back of Colette's head, now looking super- chic with the new haircut, we follow Colette and Willy as they take their seats in a private box for the opening night of "Claudine." Next to them are SALONITE and her husband.</scene_description>
    <character>SALONITE</character>
    <dialogue>Colette, you look ravishing.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She smiles. The house lights dim, the ORCHESTRA strikes up and the curtain goes up. Polaire makes an exuberant entrance.</scene_description>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>My name is Claudine. I live in Montigny...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette's eyes shine as her heroine becomes flesh.</scene_description>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>...I was born there in 1881. I shall probably not die there. Montigny is a village, not a town: its streets, thank heaven, are not paved; the showers roll down them in little torrents that dry up in a couple hours; it is a village, not even a very pretty village, but, all the same, I adore it.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LA MASCOTTE RESTAURANT/SALON - LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An air of celebration - champagne and music. At the far end of the room is Willy, sitting on a throne, holding court with Colette and Schwob by him.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I thought of all my novels, this was the one that would translate to theatre.</dialogue>
    <character>MME. DE CAILLAVET</character>
    <dialogue>I have to give it to you, Willy. It's going to be a huge success - enjoy your moment of triumph.</dialogue>
    <character>VEBER</character>
    <dialogue>Now that you are such a celebrity, you'll become more insufferable than ever.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That's the plan, Veber! That's the plan!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy continues to hold forth. Someone who appears to be a dapper gentleman dressed as Napoleon approaches Colette. This, we will find out momentarily, is a woman called MISSY.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Can you believe this crowd? Everyone's here! Look there's the Marquise de Belbeuf... or Missy, as she's known.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>A woman?</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Descended from Empress Josephine on one side, the Tsar of Russia on the other - She only shows up for very special occasions.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Fascinating.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The moment is interrupted by a hubbub. Colette looks around the corner where Polaire is making her entrance carried aloft on a litter by FOUR MUSCULAR GUYS. She is showered with praise and flowers.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Polaire! Over here!</dialogue>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>Monsieur Willy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She is deposited before...</scene_description>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>How was it?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Brilliant, my dear! You were perfection!</dialogue>
    <character>POLAIRE</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, M. Willy! Colette?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She looks to Colette who raises her glass.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You are her. The living Claudine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Polaire is so excited she physically vibrates.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Polaire, alight upon my knee...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pats his knee and she sits.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And you Tetette!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He grabs her by the hand.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Come here!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She acquiesces and lands on his other knee. Willy is now framed by two "Claudines" with perfect bobbed hair. He waves to a photographer.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Here we have the Claudine Trinity. The father...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he indicates himself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The mother...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he indicates Colette)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And the daughter...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Polaire)</parenthetical>
    <character>PHOTOGRAPHER</character>
    <dialogue>Hold still!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A magnesium flash goes off, freezing the picture. MUSIC comes up. A MONTAGE SHOWS WILLY'S HIGHLY INNOVATIVE EXPLOITATION OF THE CLAUDINE PHENOMENON.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. PHOTO SESSION - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Camera flashes capture Colette, Willy and Polaire in a series of poses. Colette plays it coy - kneeling at his feet, batting her eyes at him, sketching him. She has certainly adopted the Claudine persona full tilt. INTERCUT WITH... NEWSPAPER HEADLINES CLOSE ON POSTER It says "Do Not Go and See CLAUDINE IN PARIS - it's immoral." MAGAZINE HEADLINE</scene_description>
    <character>"THE YEAR OF CLAUDINE!"</character>
    <dialogue>124a INT. STREET - DAY 124a</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A MIDDLE AGED MAN reads a newspaper with the headline MENAGE A TROIS. 124b INT. SHELF/MAGAZINE RACK 124b Pan along several CLAUDINE magazines - ending on one that says VIVE CLAUDINE. 124c INT. BATHROOM 124c A YOUNG WOMAN picks a bottle of Claudine perfume and applies a few squirts.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HAIR SALON - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A number of WOMEN, including a couple of SALONITES, getting their hair bobbed to look like Claudine. OMITTED 126a INT. SHELF/BEAUTY PARLOR 126a A shelf full of jars selling CLAUDINE FACE CREAM. 126b INT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE PARK - DAY 126b A line of WOMEN fanning themselves with CLAUDINE FANS.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SHOP WINDOW - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>SCHOOL GIRLS gaze at MANNEQUINS - all dressed "A la Claudine." 127a EXT. COURTYARD - DAY 127a A ROUGH HANDSOME WORKER takes a CLAUDINE Cigarette from the packet with his mouth and lights it. 127b INT. SHELF/CONFECTIONERS 127b Boxes of CLAUDINE CANDIES fill the self. 127c EXT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE - DAY 127c A YOUNG BUSINESSMAN reads a paper that says CLAUDINE SENSATION while a YOUNG WOMAN reads a magazine that says LE SECRET DE CLAUDINE. 127d EXT. STREET 127d Children eat CLAUDINE CANDIES.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BOUDOIR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A YOUNG WOMAN dresses in CLAUDINE LINGERIE. 128a INT. BEDROOM - DAY 128a A young DANDY slicks his hair with CLAUDINE HAIR OIL. 128b INT. BATHROOM 128b A WOMAN reaches out to pick up a bar of CLAUDINE SOAP.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COURTYARD</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A BUNDLE OF NEWSPAPERS lands with the headline "EPOCH DE CLAUDINE." 129a INT. BEDROOM 129a TWO YOUNG GIRLS play with CLAUDINE DOLLS. 129b EXT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE - DAY 129b A group of YOUNG LADS trade CLAUDINE postcards.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. LA MASCOTTE/SALON - DINING ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>...The assembled (including Veber, Schwob, Polaire) bang rhythmically on the table with glasses, cutlery, and fists as Willy stands at the head of a large table improvising a poem. Missy sits far down the table near Colette's end with a SUFFRAGETTE FRIEND.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Claudine, she is a Midas Minx. Her smile mysterious as a sphinx. She walks and talks, she laughs - she thinks! Claudine, Claudine, Claudine...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He starts to move to the rhythm, swaying from side to side.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Claudine's a girl that knows no bounds. A fox that's never caught by hounds.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Exploding star that makes no sound! Claudine, Claudine, Claudine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy beckons a few YOUNG WOMEN up from the table and they link arms forming an impromptu can-can line. The rhythm speeds up and intensifies...</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Who is this girl in my heart?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE!)</character>
    <dialogue>Who has been there from the start?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE!)</character>
    <dialogue>And who is a bit of a tart?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The merriment in the room is sky high.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Who is the one I admire?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>Who is the queen of desire?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>And who has set Paris on fire?</dialogue>
    <character>(ALL: CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Marquise scribbles something on a card and passes it to Colette via her friend and then Wague. Colette looks at the card. It has the family coat of arms and says, "Let's meet."</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Who's wearing a school girl's smock?</dialogue>
    <character>(CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>Who's causing a hell of a shock?</dialogue>
    <character>(CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>Who working it all round the clock?</dialogue>
    <character>(CLAUDINE)</character>
    <dialogue>CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE! CLAUDINE!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He raises his hand, slightly out of breath, to quiet the banging, for a more personal last verse that he delivers straight to Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>And in a dream, I find myself, Next to Claudine, And her magical eyes, Forgetting all other music For the laughter of her voice...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He raises his glass. Everyone follows.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>To Claudine!</dialogue>
    <character>ALL</character>
    <dialogue>CLAUDINE!!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy's eyes connect, sharing a moment of triumph.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Willy enter laughing, giddy with champagne, and turn on the light. The apartment has been considerably UPGRADED</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm exhausted.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Me too. There's more steps everyday. But what a night! We have Paris in the palm of our hand.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They laugh. Then Colette switches on the light and notices something - a Claudine dress laid out on the bed.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My dear. I wondered if tonight you would...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he indicates the dress)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It would help me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They look at each other, the bed - and the dress - between them.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BOUDOIR - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette puts on the dress and looks at herself uneasily in the mirror.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>She re-enters the dimly-lit room. Willy waits in bed. Colette walks across the room and stands in front of him.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My love.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Still seated, he pulls her into him, nuzzling into her bosom.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes, my love...my Claudine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette stares ahead into the blackness with a mixture of sadness, tenderness, confusion and pity.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. RUE JACOB - DAY - 1904</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A hot day in Paris. Heat rises up, making the street look like it is in an impressionist painting. A YOUNG WOMAN in a Claudine outfit, heads towards the apartment. It's a similar view to scene 38 when Colette walked towards the house, but now, there are motor cars mixed in with the horse drawn carriages.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - STAIRCASE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The young woman ascends the stairs. ANOTHER YOUNG WOMAN, dressed à la Claudine, is going down the other way.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The gramophone is playing. Colette is having cheese and wine with a friend - Wague, the mime artist from the salon.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Here try this Soumaintrain.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he takes a slice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It reminds me of Saint Sauveur.</dialogue>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes, delicious.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>When are you going on tour?</dialogue>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>A few weeks. Some real flea pits too. It'll be hell.. Again.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Why do you do it then?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The front door bell goes off.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm addicted. I love every single dive and wastrel. You should come with us.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I can't do cantomime.</dialogue>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>This isn't cantomime this is a new kind of pantomime. Pure action - the right gesture is worth a thousand words.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This registers with Colette. The bell rings again. She looks towards Willy's office to see a seated figure on the phone. (This is PAUL HEON whom we will soon meet.)</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Excuse me.</dialogue>
    <character>BACKGROUND DIALOGUE</character>
    <dialogue>HEON</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy Gauthier Villars residence... He's busy right now can I take a message?... yes...yes...Would you like to make an appointment?...how about next Tuesday?.. He maybe has some time the following Thursday... You can't make that either... Yes, the Wednesday after is clear... I'll put you down for half an hour... What's your name? How do you spell that? Good. Look forward to seeing you a week on Wednesday... I'll tell him...Goodbye.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette goes to answer the door and there stands a 23 year- old young woman done up à la Claudine. This is MEG.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Is Monsieur Willy at home? I was hoping he could sign my book.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Follow me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette walks into the living room and calls.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Héon! Another one.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Outside Willy's office the newly appointed Afro-Caribbean secretary, PAUL HEON, hangs up the phone.</scene_description>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>This way please.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Meg walks towards Willy's Office.</scene_description>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>Go right in...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. WILLY'S STUDY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The door is ajar. The girl sticks her head in.</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Monsieur Willy...?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He looks up from his desk.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I am he.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, I was wondering if you would sign this.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She produces a copy of "Claudine at School."</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>It's my favorite book.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. To whom shall I inscribe it?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>My name is Meg... I am the real Claudine.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy looks up at her, attracted by her youth and beauty.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Where are you from?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <parenthetical>(dropping her "Claudine" voice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm from London.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Wonderful! And how old are you?</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>I'm older than I look actually. I'm twenty three.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh, well, I'm younger than I look - I'm forty six.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <parenthetical>(resuming Claudine voice)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I don't mind.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He hands the book back.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well here you are...</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you, this will be my prize possession. And that was Mme. Colette I met at the door?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It would be strange if it wasn't.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>She's so beautiful - her eyes! So much depth - and maturity.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She gives Willy a knowing smile.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. BOIS DE BOULOGNE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In a quiet lane away from the crowds, Colette and Missy walk Toby Chien. The Marquise is very affable but also a little reserved - like a polite gentleman of the day.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Look lilies...</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, calla palustris.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>There's not many people in Paris who would know their proper name.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>My maternal grandfather was a botanist. He was always away - collecting samples down in the tropics.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>My maternal grandfather spent time in the tropics too. He was a quadroon.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Really?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, from Martinique.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Missy raises an approving eyebrow.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Wonderful.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Two young women walk by dressed as Claudines, giggling.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Congratulations, by the way. It seems that Claudines are everywhere these days.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes... There's even been a Claudine murderess - in Marseilles. She slit her husband's throat.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Good for her.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette can't help but smile.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>But seriously, you've done something important. You've invented a type.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You mean Willy has.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I mean you have. All the young girls between girlhood and womanhood - you give them a voice.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette says nothing. A force of personality is breaking through Missy's reserve...</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>You should own up to it.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Someone told you?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Didn't need to be told. Meeting you was enough. You are a force of nature.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's true I...I wrote them. It's just...</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I know... It's a man's world.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They exchange a look. Ahead of them is a more populated thoroughfare. They hover for a moment, in the shade of the last tree, cherishing their improvised privacy. Colette kisses her fingers and places them on Missy's lips as a carriage goes rattling past.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>139A INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - DAY 139A</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette is composing a note at her small writing desk.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I hope the path we walked today was merely the beginning... I see your face, Missy.. strong, vulnerable. I've never met anyone like you - polite yet direct, reserved yet brave - a true gentle man. I will think of you, if I may, as my chevalier.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She smiles to herself as she writes - Missy has really gotten to her.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY ROAD - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MUSIC COMES UP. An AERIAL SHOT glides over the fields, hedges and forests of the French countryside. A very early automobile is putt-putting down the road. Willy is driving, with Meg seated by his side. In the back, Colette sits next to Missy.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COLETTE'S COUNTRY HOUSE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Meg and Missy are throwing a ball for Toby Chien down the lawn. Willy and Colette are left alone on the veranda amidst the rubble of a picnic.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Meg's a sweet thing, isn't she? She can be a little overeager, but there we are...she reminds me of you - ten years ago.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Nothing like. But she is very sweet.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We do have a very modern marriage, don't we?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We do... What do you think of Missy?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>She's very pleasant. But she perplexes me. Words in our language are either masculine or feminine. There's no word for Missy.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(smiling)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Oh, I know one...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You seem content, for once. Isn't there something missing?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What do you mean?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - STAIRS/COLETTE'S BEDROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette and Missy run up the stairs laughing, wild with passion. They round the door and start to kiss hotly. Missy puts her hand down Colette's skirts and starts to pleasure her. It's a new level of erotic engagement for Colette.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - STUDY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Next door, a different kind of scene. Willy is waiting expectantly on a chaise longue. A quiet knock on the door Meg's voice comes from the outside...</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>Ready..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, I'm ready.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She shuffles out in a full Claudine smock and stands simpering at the foot of the bed.</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>My name is Claudine. I live in Montigny. I was born there in...(she calculates) Should I change the year?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No. Keep it the same.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>I was born in 1881...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>That's right.</dialogue>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>I will probably not die there.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY HOUSE - OUTDOOR GYMNASIUM - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Sunshine and bird song. By the weatherworn gym equipment, Missy holds Colette's feet as she does sit ups on the horse.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>48...49...50. Well done...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette finishes breathing heavily.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Missy, you were married once, weren't you?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, it was awful... We don't talk anymore, except through the auspices of lawyers. He's embarrassed by me - if he was married to me, what does that say about him?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It must have been very hard for you, I mean, to put on the trousers..?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>No, it was entirely natural. I was a rather awkward child - if you can imagine me in pigtails and a dress. I never felt like I belonged. Then one day I tried on my brother's school uniform.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>And I knew I was home for the first time... Of course, it's far easier for me than for women of no means... but I wanted to show that it can be done. I do imagine a time when all women may wear trousers if that is their wish.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette smiles, reflecting.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>And you?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What about me?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I dress as a man; Willy dresses you as a schoolgirl.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(ironically)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Thank you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(takes a breath)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I do know what I'm doing, you know. I'm in on the joke.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I don't doubt it. But are you happy?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Is anybody happy? Willy's demanding - yes, but he gives me a lot of freedom.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>It's a long leash he keeps you on but a leash nevertheless... perhaps you enjoy that.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Do you think that's terribly wrong?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>No. That's entirely your business. But... never mind.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, I wonder if a time will come when you have to decide - are you Claudine or are you Colette?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette absorbs this and looks away.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S BUILDING - STAIRCASE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette ascends the stairs to her own apartment - wearing a suit and trousers.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>She goes through the apartment towards Willy's study. Paul Héon is working at his desk by the door.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hello Héon.</dialogue>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>Hello Colette.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Is he there?</dialogue>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What kind of mood is he in?</dialogue>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>The usual. But worse.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - WILLY'S STUDY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is pawing over an account ledger as she enters.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Morning Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My word. What are you wearing?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>They're Missy's.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My Dear, I'm surprised you didn't get arrested. Or beaten up.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette shrugs this off.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy...I've was thinking. You know 'Claudine Takes Off' - why don't we publish it under both our names?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Out of the question. Ollendorff will never agree.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Ollendorff or you?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My dear, do you want to the kill the goose that's laying the golden Claudines?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette is exasperated.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>But there's little risk. Claudine's established... And many people, they know already... or suspect ...Surely.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No one knows. Unless you've been crowing about it to your lady man friend.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't insult Missy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I think she is stripping you of your sense of humour...and your common sense.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>That's not fair Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We can't risk it. Especially not with our present finances. We're dead broke.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We're always broke! Yet you gamble and fill this place with all your antiques.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>They were bought from bankrupts at a debtor's auction!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>The car. The racehorse that went lame?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...And you? Your clothes, your hats, the exorbitant mortgage on the country house.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(adamant)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I want my name on the book.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No no no. Willy is a brand name. And the fact is, women writers don't sell.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette lets out a gasp of frustration.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Bastard! Selfish, smug, fat, lazy bastard!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I'll give you fat... All the other descriptions are libel.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I need credit for my work! My name on it!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Utter nonsense! If you were so concerned about that you never should have agreed to it all.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Godammit Willy..!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Without the progenitor, there would be no Claudine!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette takes his pile of papers and throws them on the floor and marches out.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. PARIS STREETS - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The atmosphere is thick, humid, charged with electricity. Colette walks through the gloomy streets, lost in her own thoughts. She feels small, disinherited, angry. She walks towards the Seine and looks out over the water. Down by the quayside a YOUNG CLAUDINE is with her SWEETHEART, flirting and kissing. Colette looks despondently at something she created but cannot own. FADE TO BLACK.:</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. BALLET STUDIO - DAY - 1906</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The ivories of a piano are being hammered. A BOHEMIAN PIANIST is playing a rhythmic Oriental piece. Light bounces around the studio, with its polished floors and huge mirrors. Four YOUNG DANCERS in leotards crawl on all fours. WAGUE, the renowned mime, is teaching a class. The door opens. Colette enters. Watches the class in action. Wague notices her presence, nods curtly, and continues. Colette starts to take off her outer clothes, she wears a leotard underneath. HALF AN HOUR LATER The dancers gather their things. Colette enters now changed into a leotard with her clothes in a bag.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Ready?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Let's get to work.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A short montage as Wague demonstrates various motions that Colette diligently copies.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - LIVING ROOM - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is reading a newspaper. Colette is in front of a mirror, with a sheet of chiffon draped around her, practicing movement. Matilde is on her knees cleaning the hearth.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you going to write today?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. I'm rehearsing with Wague later.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't you think you ought to? What are your priorities?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he looks at her, frustrated)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I should start locking you up again.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I would scream the house down.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She carries on with the exercises, self-absorbed.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's a charming hobby, Tetette but... You are not Sarah Bernhardt. And if you can't pull it off as high art you'll be doing the bloody music halls, for god's sake. And that would be scandalous.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>And when have you ever considered scandal a bad thing?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>True...What does Missy say?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>He's all for it. He comes along to Wague's studio with me all the time.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How depressing. Does she have no life of her own whatsoever?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Missy does the movements with me. He's rather good.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy nods - he's having one of his famous 'big ideas.'</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Wague thinks I could be a ready for the stage in a few weeks. What do you think, Matilde?</dialogue>
    <character>MATILDE</character>
    <dialogue>I have to agree with M. Willy, Ma'am. It's not very lady-like.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I thought you were on my side!</dialogue>
    <character>MATILDE</character>
    <dialogue>Suit yourself.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So you and the Marquise run around the studio as potty mimetic lovers do you?</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Colette nods)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>And Missy shares your ambition to go on the stage?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Oh no, he's far too shy.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. RESTAURANT - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is pitching a THEATRE MANAGER after a heavy lunch.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It'll be called "The Dream of Egypt." Paris will never have seen anything like it. A scandalous sensation - starring Madame Colette Willy and...</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(drumroll on the table)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>The Marquise de Belbeuf!!! In the common or garden music hall! Can you imagine? It'll be a full house. Every night.</dialogue>
    <character>THEATRE MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>We do perfectly well with the can-can.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I've seen it half empty on a week night.</dialogue>
    <character>THEATRE MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>You can vouch for the Marquise?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's in the bag. We can even put the Belbeuf family crest on the poster. The press will go wild. You mark my words.</dialogue>
    <character>THEATRE MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>Do you have backers?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I only need one. Myself.</dialogue>
    <character>THEATRE MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>You're that confident? That's a lot of capital.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy bluffs somewhat - in his eyes, a slight worry.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes... Yes I am.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. MOULIN ROUGE - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A theatrical poster on a column outside the Moulin Rouge announces the premiere of "Dream of Egypt," starring Mme. Colette Willy and the mystery performer "YSSIM." Excited crowds gather outside the famous red windmill, anticipating a big night.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MOULIN ROUGE - THE MAIN ROOM</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The place is filling up - Rachilde, Veber, Schwob, Madame de Caillavet with Gaston and Jeanne and many SALONITES. On stage, stands a large, solitary sarcophagus. Willy, accompanied by Meg, makes his way to a table near the stage, greeting various folk.</scene_description>
    <character>MEG</character>
    <dialogue>My God, there's Maurice Ravel - and there's Madame de Caillavet...all of our friends are here.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, a lot of the Marquis' friends are here too.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He indicates a block-booking of starchy-looking aristocrats near the front.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MOULIN ROUGE - HALF AN HOUR LATER</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The house lights come down, precipitating a wave of wolf whistles and cat calls. Up on a balcony, a man dressed as ANUBIS strikes a gong. A SMALL ORCHESTRA strikes up a moody Arabian theme.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Here we go.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The curtain goes up on a set resembling the interior of an Egyptian tomb - hieroglyphics, statues etc. Missy enters the stage woodenly, dressed as an archeologist, reading from an old book. The crowd ROARS. A shower of coins, orange peel and garlic cloves rains on the stage. Undaunted, Missy finds a cartouche on the sarcophagus and carefully brushes the dust off it.</scene_description>
    <character>HECKLER</character>
    <dialogue>Get a move on, you dyke!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Then, with great effort, Missy opens the lid of the sarcophagus. The lights change. The orchestra ramps up. And something starts to appear. In the crowd various people react: Mme. de Caillavet, sneering TOP-HATTED GENTLEMEN, Veber, Schwob, Gaston de Caillavet. Willy watches intently, picking up on every murmur of the crowd. Emerging from the sarcophagus is Colette, cross-legged in a bejeweled outfit inspired by Salome. The audience gasps. Rhythmic music kicks in and Colette starts to do a series of evocative movements. Missy watches her in stagy wonder. Some audience members are delighted, others appalled.</scene_description>
    <character>A POSH HECKLER</character>
    <dialogue>Degenerate! Get back to Lesbos!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Now the dance is really heating up. Colette comes down from the pedestal and starts to dance. Missy joins in, framing Colette's gyrations with her own eccentric movements. As the crowd starts to boil over, Willy's eyes are shining. At the climax of the dance, Colette falls into the Marquise's arms. Their lips move closer and closer - a huge GASP comes up from the house. Then...</scene_description>
    <character>THEY KISS.</character>
    <dialogue>The house EXPLODES. People are on their feet, yelling and booing. A barrage of food and glasses are thrown onto the stage, smashing around the embracing couple - even a footstool, which Colette narrowly dodges. The curtain falls.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Meg)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>It may be time to go...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>But the rioting audience turn on them.</scene_description>
    <character>ANOTHER HECKLER</character>
    <dialogue>Cuckold! Cuckold!!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A crowd of RUFFIANS advance on Willy and Meg. Willy brandishes his cane, keeping them off as he and Meg make their way to the door. Somebody grabs Meg's hair and she punches him in the face. The whole auditorium is in a state of revolt.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MOULIN ROUGE - BACK STAGE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Anubis, now without his headdress, is talking to a REPORTER, whose attention is suddenly distracted as Colette and Missy exit their dressing room.</scene_description>
    <character>REPORTER</character>
    <dialogue>Madame Colette, what are your impressions of tonight?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(firing on all cylinders)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>My 'impressions?' I'm disgusted. These people who threw things are cowards - if I didn't get a footstool in the face, it's only because I dodged it.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <parenthetical>(whispering)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Let it go, Colette.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(to reporter)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>There were some gentleman there who came for a fight. We just have to ignore them and go on.</dialogue>
    <character>REPORTER</character>
    <dialogue>So you intend to continue?</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>COLETTE (cont'd) They don't scare me at all. Look am I trembling..? (holds out her hand) I will continue to pursue this because I am an artist and a free woman and if Paris won't have me -- so be it! I'll go elsewhere to make a living.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. GRAVEYARD - SAINT-SAUVEUR - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>In a country graveyard, a coffin is going into the ground. A COUNTRY PRIEST reads the rites. The family are assembled for the funeral of JULES COLETTE. Sido is clearly beside herself with grief. Colette is there - deep in grief, with Willy who sneaks a look at his watch. This doesn't go unnoticed by Sido. OMITTED</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOUSE - COLETTE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette unlaces a boot and drops it on the floor.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>How are you bearing up my love?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...I keep thinking I'll see him in every room. But he's gone.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>He was an old soldier. A good solid man.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>He was..."was"...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette sighs, puzzled by death - exhausted.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I saw our creditors yesterday. Horrific. We lost everything at the Moulin Rouge.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy - not today.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(interrupting)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Tetette, we need to sell the country house.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette is brought up short.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We have no choice.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. No, Willy. You can't do that.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Morally, yes, I need your permission. But legally, well, the house is in my name...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't believe you.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Or we file for bankruptcy. What do you think?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She throws her other boot to the corner of the room. Sits there, fuming.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE FAMILY HOME - KITCHEN - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Through the window, Willy walks around the garden, smoking. Colette brings a dirty plate up to Sido at the kitchen sink.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>You need to divorce him, Gabri, and quick.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Sido, don't...please.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>You ask for a full audit of his accounts, and...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No!</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>You must face reality. The money. His infidelities. And his lies! I never believe a word he says. Not like Missy - so kind and generous and honest.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We should be thinking about papa.</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>He's dead. You're alive. Willy's a mess. A drinker. A gambler. He's a broken man, Gabrielle.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't say that.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She glances out to see Willy in the garden.</scene_description>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>He'll hold you back.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>But...I still...</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Gabri, You have to use your gifts. Forget this "pantomime"! Please! Write something new - under your own name.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going on tour, Sido, with Wague - for the next six months. The contracts are being drawn up. We're doing a new piece...</dialogue>
    <character>SIDO</character>
    <dialogue>Oh no, Gabrielle! Get out of it. You have to.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm going to do it. Writing's a nightmare.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>All the hours I spent with him breathing down my neck - the turn of the key in the lock, the ache in my fingers. I'm done with it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy appears -- immediately sensing an atmosphere.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>What did I miss..?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Both women carry on with their kitchen duties without replying.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Women...knives...all very Greek.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette averts her eyes, unable to look at him.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>An aerial shot over fields and hedges finds a steam train speeding along.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. SMALL RAILWAY STATION - DAY - 1907</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A train has pulled in. Amongst the disembarking passengers is a TROUPE OF MUSIC HALL PERFORMERS. We follow them down the platform: There are SHOWGIRLS, ACROBATS, DOG TRAINERS, A MAGICIAN. Colette and Wague are with them, dragging a trunk.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. THEATER - MONTMARAULT - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>It is raining. The troupe walk to the stage door. Outside the theater a poster announcing the various acts including Mme. Colette Willy and Wague in "FLESH." OMITTED OMITTED</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. DRESSING ROOM - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette stares at herself in the dressing table mirror with a kind of melancholy blankness. She is thirty-three years old now and she looks tired. There's a knock at the door. It's Wague.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Colette -</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Wague, I don't know if I'm up to it today. I haven't slept a wink for the last two nights. I have flea bites all over. I'm exhausted!</dialogue>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>We're all bloody exhausted!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She snorts.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Have you got any kohl I could borrow?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. Catch.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He looks at her.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>You'll survive.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He exits. Colette turns back to the mirror and sighs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. MONTMARAULT THEATER - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>With the scene set for a peasant's cottage, Colette is flirting with a SECRET LOVER. The AUDIENCE is not paying much attention - they are drinking, talking, eating. Wague, playing Colette's husband, discovers them and has a fit of jealous rage; he shoves Colette around, smashing dishes and goes to attack the lover. Colette pleads and tries to explain (silently, of course), but Wague's rage just builds. He goes to attack the lover but Colette gets in between them. Wague grabs her collar and TEARS IT ASUNDER REVEALING HER BREAST. Shocked he prostrates himself on the stage as though struck by lightning. The audience is awestruck. Colette stands frozen in her pose as the piano restarts. We see something in her expression - the exhilaration that comes with discovering a new source of personal power.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - WILLY'S STUDY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is looking helplessly through a stack of bills. He looks like he's recovering from a rough night. Moments later, he is at his desk in front of a typewriter. He cracks his knuckles and prepares to work. In front of him is the GREAT BLANK PAGE. He types "WHAT CLAUDINE DID NEXT." Then, "A NOVEL BY WILLY" But nothing will come. The page remains blank. He stares at it with growing frustration. He types a letter, the word "I." Then dots. ..... I... I... then just scrambles on the typewriter anything. HJDGJYGEBNFJHjhgiuyi8t\[10845oiodfjnaf;knakgjhuyatuhrtka He stops. Then... KSJhdiuyrugjhabvdfjhqyt5pquojbf'auyt\[085yioqhohhtuhwqout He types faster and faster and faster and starts to bang the keys - first with fingers then with his fists so that he is likely to hurt himself. Then he stops, breathes and almost at the point of tears, and looks desperately at a picture of Colette on his desk.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OLLENDORFF PUBLISHING - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy walks slowly up the grand staircase.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. OLLENDORFF'S OFFICE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The men are seated on either side of Ollendorff's wide desk, igniting cigars.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Tell me something...the sole rights to the Claudines, Ollendorff... What would you give me for them?</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Are you serious? All of them?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Make me an offer.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>How much are you thinking?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Let's say 25,000. In a few years - they'll recoup ten times that.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Possibly...but I don't have that much. Publishing is a volatile business, Willy...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <parenthetical>(interrupting)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How much then?</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>...For the sole rights in perpetuity?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Ollendorff eyes him, calculating. He takes a small slip of paper and scribbles a number on it and passes it over the desk. Willy looks at it, dismayed.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. A BAR IN STRASBOURG - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A warm crowded table in a lively low-roofed cellar filled with life and music. Colette and BAPTISTE, a Vietnamese conjurer, are having an arm wrestle across a table. Wague with a YOUNG FLIRT, a RUSSIAN ACROBAT and some SHOWGIRLS cheer Colette on. There is the feeling of merriment, of circus. Colette almost loses then makes a final mighty push to bring her opponent's hand down. Cheers from the assembled.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Did you let me win?</dialogue>
    <character>BAPTISTE</character>
    <dialogue>Of course!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Bastard! That's worst than losing!</dialogue>
    <character>ACROBAT</character>
    <parenthetical>(to Baptiste)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>How about it..?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>The Acrobat offers his arm for a wrestle to the Baptiste.</scene_description>
    <character>BAPTISTE</character>
    <dialogue>No no. I have a great affection for my arm.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Laughter. Across the room, Missy enters at the main door. Wearing a SKIRT.</scene_description>
    <character>EVERYONE</character>
    <dialogue>Missy! Missy!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Missy expertly detaches the skirt revealing trousers underneath. Everybody cheers.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hello, my love.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry the train was waiting for two hours at the Gard du Nord.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Come here...next to me.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Missy snuggles on to the bench by Colette.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>How was it tonight?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It was like every night. Sheer terror and then bliss.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>The gang is in a good mood.</dialogue>
    <character>BAPTISTE</character>
    <dialogue>Hey Missy, I'm going to the bar do you want anything?-</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Order champagne. Three bottles. Make it five.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Everyone cheers. A drunken showgirl, FLOSSY, plants a kiss on Colette's cheek.</scene_description>
    <character>FLOSSY</character>
    <dialogue>Santé, you beautiful gal.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Santé, Flossy. You're the best.</dialogue>
    <character>FLOSSY</character>
    <dialogue>You can give it and you can take it... We loves ya, don't we, Moll?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Her friend, MOLLY, agrees. Colette's eyes glow at this compliment - far greater and more meaningful than any she received in the salon. Baptiste pops the champagne cork to more cheers. It seems like the party will go on all night.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE'S HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>A small pokey hotel room. Colette and Missy undress for bed by candlelight.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>We had a cancellation in Limoges - I have four days off next week.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Are you coming back to Paris?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No. I have to go up to Besancon - to pack up the house.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Will he be there?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Missy, it's been a long day. Can't we just...</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. I'm sorry.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They get into bed and hold each other close.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>You don't need to worry about Willy. You don't need to earn your own money or stay in these kind of places. I could arrange everything.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Too much of my life has been "arranged."</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I just want you to be able to write if you want to.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't want to. I'm happy. And I like my threadbare lodgings...I like making my own money. Even if it's only 50 francs a show.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Missy nods, hiding her hurt.</scene_description>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>I love you. That's all.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>...Thank you.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>It's not the traditional reply but I'll take it for now.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They stare into each other's eyes. There's a pounding on the door.</scene_description>
    <character>MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>Get up. Now! We're coming in.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette stands using a blanket to cover herself as the MANAGER opens the door with his WIFE in tow.</scene_description>
    <character>MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>Out! Both of you! Get out of here!</dialogue>
    <character>MANAGER'S WIFE</character>
    <dialogue>You see? I told you!</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What the hell?</dialogue>
    <character>MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>You degenerates!</dialogue>
    <character>MANAGER'S WIFE</character>
    <dialogue>We don't have filth under our roof.</dialogue>
    <character>MANAGER</character>
    <dialogue>You've got five minutes to get out or I'm calling the police.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Please fuck off.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(alternate take)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Oh bugger off.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He slams the door. Colette looks distraught.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What are we going to do now? I have to be up at six to catch the train to Nice.</dialogue>
    <character>MISSY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't worry, my dear. We'll find somewhere else...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks into Missy's eyes and finds strength there.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. HOTEL - STAIRS - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>MUSIC COMES UP. Hastily, dressed, Colette and Missy descend the stairs with their bags, past the manager with their heads held high.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STRASBOURG STREET - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>As the exiled lovers walk off into the darkness, Missy takes Colette's hand.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COUNTRY HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Rain clouds gather over the house.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COUNTRY HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The house has taken on a depressing air - pictures have been taken down, furniture has been moved out. Colette is packaging up her collection of paperweights. Across the room, Willy is packing up some bric-a-brac. They work in silence, at opposite ends of a wide frame.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I've been thinking about this new craze for moving pictures. Do you think we could adapt Claudine for a cineplay..?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <parenthetical>(half to herself)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Do you never stop?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We could write a completely fresh story. Claudine by the Sea.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No... Adapt the old ones...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Perhaps...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>There's a flash of guilt in Willy's eyes.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Catch!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She throws the original Paris snow globe across to him. Half the water has leaked out and it looks pretty deteriorated.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes! How sad.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Tears come to his eyes but she doesn't see.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I've missed you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No, you haven't.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course I have... your ambiguous smiles, the insane speed of your thoughts, your absurd joys, your brief but violent anger...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette is affected by this but won't let it show. She finishes up a crate and puts the lid on.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>How's the book going with Meg..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Terrible! All spice and no literature.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(Colette snorts a laugh)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>She's not you and she never will be.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette sighs. The tug of old forces on her heart.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What are we doing, Willy?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They look across to each other but the distance between them seems now unbreachable.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...Are we finished?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I don't know.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy sighs, wants to cry. He shrugs.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You can't.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Why can't I?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Because I love you and you at your most brilliant with me.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Am I?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, you know you are. But you still need your headmaster...</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE'S BEDROOM - COUNTRY HOUSE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette lies awake, troubled. There's a light knock.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Come in.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy enters, dressed in his nightshirt.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>May I get in with you, Gabri?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>- Yes. Get in.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I couldn't sleep. It was too quiet.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(a quiet moment)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Listen. The silence. It's terrifying isn't it?</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No...I love it.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Of course, you do - you country girl.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He kisses her on the cheek.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I have something weighing on me...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>What..?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I...I don't sleep with Meg any more. I mean we sleep. But I can't...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy cannot say it.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It doesn't matter.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It does. It matters very much.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She holds him close, as if he were a child.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Good-night, my love.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATRE - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The audience are applauding. Up on stage Colette and her music hall troupe bow together holding hands.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATRE - BACKSTAGE</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The troupe descend a spiral staircase leading down from the stage. Colette is next to Wague, exhausted after her performance. Flossy turns round out.</scene_description>
    <character>FLOSSY</character>
    <dialogue>Went well tonight!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette waves her hand indicating so-so. She turns to go up some steps when a voice calls out for her.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Madame Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Monsieur Ollendorff!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>They shake hands.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>I'm here in Lille on some family business, and I was delighted when I found out you were here with the play.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>It's kind of you to come and see it.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>It was quite a spectacle.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette gives him a tight-lipped smile. Two SHOWGIRLS come down the stairs and bustle past them up. OLLENDORFF (cont'd) I was thinking, if you were free, I would like to take you and the Marquise to dinner.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you. I'm always up for a free feed. And especially in such august company.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>It's the very least I can do for you, Colette. After all the money you've made for me. And will continue to make.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he gives a tight-lipped smile)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I wish I had been able to give Willy a better settlement. But one can only pay what one can afford.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I'm not sure I quite understand.</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>For the Claudines. For the rights to the Claudines.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A STAGEHAND passes between them carrying a bunch of flowers up the stairs.</scene_description>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Do you mean to say he didn't tell you?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette looks at him stunned.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy sold you the Claudines?</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Yes. All of them.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>He sold you Claudines...</dialogue>
    <character>OLLENDORFF</character>
    <dialogue>Absolutely. I'm sorry. I thought..?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette struggles to keep herself under control.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>How much did he get for her?</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette speeds along, gazing out of the window.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - STAIRCASE - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette flies up the stairs in a rage.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - WILLY'S STUDY - DAY</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Paul Héon sit typing while Willy stands, giving dictation. Colette is at the door, livid.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>...I am most insulted by the implication of your letter. We have transacted business now for over five years without any...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette storms in.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy, I need to see you alone.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Tetette! What a wonderful surprise!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Sensing the impending storm, Héon rises, makes for the door.</scene_description>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>I'll see you later, Willy, Colette.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He leaves the two of them alone.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>So?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She just looks at him.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>5000 francs, Willy. 5000 francs...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Ah... You've heard... Yes... Well...I was in a corner.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Traitor. Liar. Thief.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Don't be so melodramatic. I was trying to keep the house for you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I gave you the house!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We still owed the bank so much on it.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You could have sold Veber's novels. Some of your other trash. You only did it to stick the knife in me. Didn't you?! DIDN'T YOU?!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I wouldn't have got anything for Veber's or Schwob's or anyone else's. Please calm down...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Why? Why should I calm down? You hurt and you hurt and you think that by saying "I'm a man, that's what men do," you clear it all away...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He reaches for her hand. She explodes, recoils as if at an electric shock.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>DON'T YOU TOUCH ME! What you did was not just hateful - it was stupid. Now we'll have no say over our books and we'll never see another sou from them.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>We can write some more...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>No! Never again! NEVER!</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My dear, you're over-reacting. It was purely a business decision.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>That's what our whole marriage has been! Wasn't I the best investment you ever made? No dowry but my God, she can write for her keep?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>If you were an investment then you were a highly speculative one. I gave up my inheritance for you.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>I paid you back a thousand times.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Colette stop, damn it!! Stop talking about money. You were my ideal, my obsession, my love.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette catches her breath and slowly turns to him. Her eyes are burning. When she speaks, it is with unexpected calm.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>You've killed our child.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy stares at her, stunned.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Those books - they were all we had. Now they're gone and we've no chance of repair.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>My dear, Claudine was only a...</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Don't! Don't tell me what Claudine was. I am the real Claudine!!!</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(he tries to interrupt)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>Everything I thought and felt went into those books. They were me. My childhood, my memories, my opinions. Everything. And then the hours and hours I spent, alone, slaving away for you. Churning out scenes just to try and please you. I am so ashamed of myself for that. But I knew and you knew - that I was bound to do it.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(she shakes her head)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>You found me when I knew nothing, Willy. You molded me to your own designs...to your desires. And you thought I could never break free... But you're wrong. Claudine is dead now. She's gone. You betrayed her. And I...I've outgrown her.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Willy sinks into a chair. He looks exhausted, deflated. He has finally broken.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Please, my dear, I was stupid... I panicked... forgive me. Please.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Goodbye, Willy.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She walks to the door. Willy's tone turns.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>No...Tetette...Gabrielle....My love...Stop! I forbid you..!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She leaves, closing the door behind her.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. STREETS OF PARIS - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Evening is coming on. The street of Paris are busy with cars. The electric street lamps turn off automatically.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy is looking through the exercise books. Page after page of Colette school notebooks, - the original text of the Claudine novels with the occasional margin note from Willy. He is thinking out loud to Heon...</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You see - that's mine, that's mine - it was a collaboration... she really has a nerve... These prove it.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Heon says nothing. Willy reads his silence.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>You know... Could you do me a favor, Héon? Could you destroy these for me?</dialogue>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>Are you sure?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Definitely. Burn them. Incinerate.</dialogue>
    <character>HEON</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Thank you.</dialogue>
    <parenthetical>(sighs)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm going out.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He heads out the door. Leaving Héon with the books.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CAFE NOIR - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Willy and Schwob sitting at a dark table nursing an absinthe. A chess set is in front of them but they are barely interested in the game.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>...How many decent salons are left now? Two, maybe three.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>It's the end of a dream.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Paris is losing its gold.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Yes, I must confess, I don't think that this century agrees with me quite as much as the last one.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>I haven't heard from Colette. I've written to her twice but no word.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Writing is anathema to her, it always has been.</dialogue>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>You two really are done this time?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>She'll pass me on the street and not even look at me. "Claudine Divorced." So much the worse for her. And for me...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>A solemn silence. Across the bar a YOUNG WOMAN (who we remember as LILY - GEORGIE'S ASSISTANT) and her GIRLFRIEND are having coffee at the bar. She says something to her then ventures across the room.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>M. Willy?</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>I am the late Monsieur Willy.</dialogue>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>I'm Lily - Lily Milson. I met you once. Years ago. I used to work for Madame Raoul Duval.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Oh yes! I saw you and your friend come in and I thought - what wonderful young creatures! Thank heaven for... you, my dear</dialogue>
    <scene_description>This embarrasses Lily.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <dialogue>I just wanted to say hello.</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Well, how about you two come and share a drink with a couple of old roués?</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He gives her a come on look through bleary eyes. Schwob looks embarrassed.</scene_description>
    <character>WILLY (CONT'D)</character>
    <dialogue>It's never too early...</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He pats the seat beside him. Lily looks disillusioned, sad.</scene_description>
    <character>LILY</character>
    <parenthetical>(nervously)</parenthetical>
    <dialogue>I'm sorry, I have to go... Very nice seeing you.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>And she's gone. Willy stares sadly into his drink.</scene_description>
    <character>SCHWOB</character>
    <dialogue>Loosing your touch...</dialogue>
    <character>WILLY</character>
    <dialogue>Lost! The Claudines are done with their headmaster.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>He downs the last dregs and sighs.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. COLETTE AND WILLY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Héon stokes up the fire in Willy's study. He takes the first book and is about to throw in on. Then he stops, opens the book and looks at the words for a moment. Taking a decision, he puts all the books in a leather satchel, and heads out the door.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. TRAIN - MOVING - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The train whizzes through the countryside as evening falls.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Everyone is asleep except Colette, who leans against the side of the compartment, staring into the blackness. Then Missy stirs. She catches Colette's eye. Colette returns her gaze with a tired smile, and mouths - I Love You.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>EXT. THEATRE - MARSEILLES - MORNING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>The three find their way to the theater that displays a giant poster for "FLESH."</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. DRESSING ROOM - EVENING</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>At the venue, Colette is getting dressed. She pulls on a stocking but her big toe pokes through it. It's torn.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Shit!</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She goes over to a large trunk in the corner, opens it up, and rifles around in the tattered sequin gowns. At the bottom of the trunk, she finds something that stops her in her tracks. It is one of her school notebooks - the last one of the original Claudine At School manuscript. She flips through it and about a third of the way in finds the page that says THE END. Wague sticks his head in the door.</scene_description>
    <character>WAGUE</character>
    <dialogue>Thirty minutes to curtain.</dialogue>
    <character>COLETTE</character>
    <dialogue>Thanks, Wague.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>She blows him a kiss. MOMENTS LATER The nib of a pen is dipped in ink. On the opposite page from the end of Claudine, Colette writes "NOTES ON THE MUSIC HALL." She starts to write again - we hear a new authority in her voice.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>After two years of music-hall and theatre, I'm still the same - face to face with that painted mentor who gazes at me from the other side of the looking-glass, with deep-set eyes under lids smeared with purplish greasepaint.</dialogue>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT</stage_direction>
    <scene_description>Colette walks down the corridor backstage, past SHOWGIRLS changing and ACROBATS warming up - her new world, her new community. She sees Wague who signals to her good luck.</scene_description>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>I know she is going to speak to me. She is going to say: "Is that you there, all alone under that ceiling booming and vibrating under the feet of the dancers? Why are you there, all alone? And why not somewhere else?" Yes, this is the dangerous, lucid hour.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Approaching the stage, we hear the audience chanting "Colette" over and over in rhythm. The sound gets louder, the audience's feet beating a tattoo on the floor; COLETTE, COLETTE, COLETTE.</scene_description>
  </scene>
  <scene>
    <stage_direction>INT. THEATRE - BACKSTAGE</stage_direction>
    <character>COLETTE (V.O.)</character>
    <dialogue>Now, whenever I despair, I no longer expect my end, but some bit of luck, some commonplace little miracle which, like a glittering link, will mend again the necklace of my days.</dialogue>
    <scene_description>Colette takes a deep breath. The curtain goes up, to thunderous applause. She walks into the brilliant glow of the footlights, and disappears into white, like a bird disappearing into the sun. TITLES comes up, accompanied by ARCHIVAL PHOTOS and MUSIC.</scene_description>
    <character>TITLE</character>
    <dialogue>In 1911, Colette's "The Vagabond," based on her music hall experience, was published under her own name to great critical acclaim.</dialogue>
    <character>TITLE</character>
    <dialogue>Missy and Colette continued their relationship for many years. Missy often accompanied Colette on her music hall tours, though never again opted to appear on the stage.</dialogue>
    <character>TITLE</character>
    <dialogue>Willy continued to publish ghost- written books with Meg, but failed to replicate the success of the Claudines. He died in 1931 in relative obscurity.</dialogue>
    <character>TITLE</character>
    <dialogue>Paul Héon did not destroy the original Claudine manuscripts but returned them to Colette. They became crucial evidence in a 1948 legal battle to establish the true authorship of the novels... that Colette won.</dialogue>
    <character>TITLE</character>
    <dialogue>Colette went on to publish over fifty acclaimed novels and short stories. She became the most celebrated female author in the history of French literature.</dialogue>
    <dialogue>In her old age, Colette remarked, "What a wonderful life I've had. I only wish I'd realized it sooner."</dialogue>
    <character>THE END</character>
  </scene>
</script>

Summary: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette is a young woman from the rural Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye at the end of the 19th century, who begins an affair with Willy. Willy eventually brings Colette to Paris as his bride, with socialites expressing surprise a libertine like him would marry. Willy refers to himself as a "literary entrepreneur", employing a number of ghostwriters to write articles. However, he finds the limited output does not bring in enough revenue to cover his expenses, due to his expensive lifestyle entertaining socialites. He commissions one ghostwriter to work on a novel while Colette manages his correspondence. One day, Colette finds Willy with a prostitute, leading to a separation. He eventually persuades her to return, promising honesty. Colette also tells him of her days as a schoolgirl. With Willy increasingly unable to pay his writers, he asks Colette to write a novel based on her school stories. She completes a draft of Claudine à l'école, which Willy rejects for lacking plot. Years later, some of Willy's furniture is repossessed, and he stumbles on the draft. He suggests revisions and the novel is submitted and published under Willy's byline. Claudine à l'école becomes a bestseller, particularly attracting a female readership. Faced with his first true hit, Willy tells his publisher a sequel is coming, purchases a country house, and locks Colette in a room there to force her to write. Initially objecting, Colette writes Claudine à Paris, which becomes another bestseller. As Colette and Willy become an increasingly recognized couple, she attracts the notice of Georgie Raoul-Duval, a Louisiana debutante, and they begin an affair. Jealous, Willy also begins an affair with Georgie. Colette discovers this, and bases her next book, Claudine en ménage, on the episode. Fearing scandal, Georgie's husband purchases and burns all copies of the book before sale, but does not purchase the copyright, allowing Willy to reprint and sell the book. The Claudine books enjoy continued success, including a stage adaptation, starring Polaire. Colette begins an affair with Missy, who presents as male. They begin dancing and develop an act at the Moulin Rouge that draws a morally outraged response when they kiss onstage. Willy cites the act as a financial disaster and sells all rights to the Claudine books for 5,000 francs without Colette's knowledge. Angered and feeling betrayed, Colette leaves Willy. Willy asks his employee Paul to burn the Claudine manuscripts; Paul returns them to Colette instead. Colette becomes recognized as a writer in her own right, beginning with The Vagabond, published under her byline, about her music hall experience.