One great (non-)sex scene
I’m am a little obsessed at the moment with the music from the movie Once, or more specifically with the album The Swell Season (songs by the two actors of the movie, who were the real musicians, for those of you don’t know about this superb little film – see post below). The night that I initially watched this film the DVD that my friend and I had hired froze in two crucial places, so I had watch it again to see what we’d missed. Below is a piece of the script from one of those two scenes (I knew we'd missed something important!). It’s probably severely lacking without the intonations and the significant glances and pauses, but I think this has to be one of the best (non-)sex scenes I have seen in a movie in a long time. The guy and the girl (who aren’t actually given names in the movie) have quite an extraordinary connection and each do love the other, but there is, let me just say, a significant barrier between them (don’t want to totally spoil the story!). After they have spent the weekend and been up all night recording their music together, they walk home and this is what takes place:
Girl: I’ve gotta go this way.
Guy: Really?
Girl: (Nods)
Guy: Where are you going?
Girl: (Laughs) Home.
Guy: (Laughs) You don’t want to come back? I’ll make you breakfast. We can listen to the CD.
Girl: No.
(Snipped a piece of the story here.)
Guy: ... Come back and hang out, have a cup of tea. It’s the last day. We’ll hang out. Whatever. Breakfast. Whatever. Listen to the tunes. Or you could come over later. Whatever.
Girl: For what?
Guy: What do you mean, what? Just come and hang out.
Girl: But we’ve done our work. Why would I come over? We’d just hanky-panky if I come now.
Guy: (laughs)
Girl: What?
Guy: Hanky-panky?
Girl: (Looks at him at nods)
Guy: It won’t be for hanky panky.
Girl: You know it would. (Pause.) And that would be nice.
Guy: Would it?
Girl: It’d be interesting.
Guy: (Probing) Would it?
Girl: (Laughs) It’d be worthless though.
I thought that was a rather exemplary little interaction for we girls. This girl has kept her faculties about her: she’s aware of the warmth of the moment, given the time that they’ve spent together, the way they’ve connected and shared, added to the little sleep they’ve had; she’s aware of the temptation inherent in going back to the guy’s place - and she is not naïve or foolish enough to overlook any of those things, much as she might like to. And she understands that sex is worth so much more than just indulging in this moment.