club arena.

September 12.

Nightclub Arena, a loud music club, on stage there's a guy playing guitar. Celine steps out of her role and surprises him with a whispered greeting about his first concert. Interestingly, in the next twenty minutes, something surprising happens, previously arranged. About 500 schillings were spent to recreate the scene from the day before, along with another 700 schillings to persuade the bar owner, and another 200 schillings to allow filming.

Filmmaker LIZ takes the microphone and sits on stage in front of the screen. She has a piece of paper in hand and signals to the projectionist to start. The room darkens, and the movie begins. Behind the initial black and white Super 8 images is the scratched white title in German: A CLASS OF NOISE AND A CLASS OF SILENCE. The film consists of images of fairly recent events (1985-1994), bands playing, disasters, and televised images. Interspersed throughout are a series of unsettling images of solitary individuals, some looking at the camera, others into the distance. The film evokes a melancholic and almost romantic loneliness. She speaks in German, and we read subtitles.

-Our critique began, as all critiques do, with doubt... Doubt became our life. Ours was the quest for a new story, our own, and we clung to this new story, driven by the Dadaist suspicion that ordinary language could not tell it. Our past seemed frozen in the distance, and each of our gestures and accents expressed the denial of an old world and the desire for a new one. It was about the discovery of true communication, or at least the quest for such communication, the adventure of finding it and losing it... We kept looking, the dissatisfied and the nonconformists, below, outside, scattered, communicating only with a passing glance, but still knowing that no matter how empty the world might seem, no matter how degraded and exhausted it seemed, everything was possible - says Liz, the filmmaker.

Both Celine and Jesse, at the Arena bar, see the projector starting to replay the movie again. They move to the drinks area, which has many tables. Due to the hour, it's full, and they spot an empty video game machine. There, they find an unoccupied machine, which Jesse heads to almost hypnotized by how he ignores Celine.

They take turns playing pinball.

-Julie whispers in his ear. Do you want to bet I beat you in two rounds? You know the wager. - Richard, who is a few meters away, can't hear them; the microphones don't work due to the background music in the venue, only the one held by an assistant.

-So, we haven't even talked about this, but are you seeing anyone? Do you have a boyfriend waiting for you in Paris or something? - says Celine.

-No, no, not now... - says Celine.

-You did, - said Jesse.

-We broke up six months ago, - said Celine.

-Sorry. I mean, not sorry, but tell me about it, - responds Billy/Jesse, watching Julie play with a gesture that every time she's focused, widens her eyes and juts her lips out.

-No, no, it's boring. I can't, - says Celine.

-Come on, come on, - says Jesse.

Backstage, Gwyneth arrives, wearing a khaki-colored jacket that reaches below her knees, blue boots, black skinny jeans, and a white cropped shirt, along with a belly piercing.

-I felt disappointed. I thought this would last. - Julie sighed as she lost a ball in the pinball machine. - He was so stupid, ugly, bad in bed, an alcoholic... I was doing him a favor. But he left saying I loved him too much and that I was blocking his artistic expression. I was traumatized and obsessed with him. I went to see a psychiatrist, and it turned out I had written these little stories about how I was going to kill him, all the intricate details of how I would do it and not get caught. -

-Kill him? - Jesse asked.

Billy's view and Jesse's curiosity were intriguing. He realizes that Jesse/Billy is looking at her a bit strangely.

-Oh no, it's nothing I would ever do; I think it was just writing, - said Celine.

-I understand, - Jesse responded.

-Anyway, the stupid psychiatrist believed everything I was telling her. She said I had to call the police. She was convinced I was going to do it, even though I told her it was just my way of dealing with it. She said, looking deep into my eyes, 'From the way you said it, I know you're going to do it.' That was my first and last session. I got over it completely, but now I'm obsessed that he's going to die in an accident, maybe a thousand kilometers away, and I'll be accused, -Celine replied.

Without neglecting the form, inadvertently responding to a dominant attitude.

Julie keeps playing, losing her last life,

-Why do you obsess over people who don't matter to you? And what about you? Are you with someone? - asks Celine.

-It's funny how we avoided this question for so long, - Jesse said.

-I know, but now you have to say it. Seems like you just got hurt. By me, - said Celine.

-I don't know. Love is like this escape for people who haven't learned to be alone or do something for themselves. People think love is something selfless and completely generous. But if you think about it, it's probably one of the most selfish things, - said Jesse.

-So, who just broke up with you? - said Celine.

-What? -questioned Jesse.

-You seem like someone who just got hurt, - said Celine.

-Okay... big confession. I didn't want to say it! I feel responsible. I'll tell you something... So, who just broke up with you? I didn't come to Europe just to find myself and read Hemingway in Paris and stuff like that. I worked all spring saving money to fly to Madrid and spend the summer with my girlfriend, - Jesse pauses with full identity, at Julie's gesture, grabbing his hips - my ex-girlfriend, who's been in this stupid art history program for the past year. But I got here, and on our first night, finally reunited, we went out to dinner with five of her friends: Gonzalo, Pedro, María, Antonio, and Suzie from home. She pretty much avoided being alone with me the first few days I was there, but I stayed a while to let her realize she wished I hadn't come. So, I got the cheapest charter flight out of Europe, leaving from Vienna tomorrow, but I had a couple of weeks off, so I bought a Eurail pass, - said Jesse.

-You know what's the worst thing about someone breaking up with you? Remembering how little you thought about the people you broke up with and realizing how little they think about you. You like to think you're both suffering a lot, but really, they're relieved you're no longer there, - said Jesse.

They had been recording for almost an hour.

-Well, you should look at bright colors, - said Celine, jokingly, as she took control of the pinball machine again, determined to beat the 290,000 points Billy scored a moment ago.

-That's... - Jesse asked, perplexed.

-That's what that psychiatrist told me. I was paying nine hundred francs an hour to find out I was a homicidal maniac, but maybe I could change my obsession if I focused on bright colors, - said Celine.

-Did it work? - said Jesse.

-I haven't killed him yet, - said Celine.

This caused Julie to burst into laughter at Billy's reaction.

[an exclamation point]

-Cut. -

...

-Damn, such a long scene, I thought it would last a lifetime. It's eleven thirty, there's a last category bar, closes at 2, we can go in, have a drink, then go to the hotel, get enough rest, - said Julie.

-Julie, I won't go, and I hope you know I have to go to the hotel - said Billy, firmly closing the discussion.

Gwyneth arrived, giving Julie a French kiss hello, both were happy to see each other, whispering about something.

-Good day, Gwyneth. Your arrival is surprising, - said Billy.

-That's what I'm here for. To surprise people, - said Gwyneth.

Going to a table in the bar, both were accompanied by a beer.

Both girls were happy, but something inside Billy stirred, two beautiful white girls walking the streets of Vienna, probably intoxicated, in an unpleasant way. Billy didn't want them to go and something bad happened. Director Richard would start doing many things, like reviewing the entire tape, the assistant would help the director even so, Julie wouldn't invite him, and the photographer, soundman, and lighting guy in harsh words were married.

-I'll accompany you, - said Billy.

-I'm not sure we want you to accompany us now, - said Julie.

Billy felt like thinking, was it possible for them to change their minds in less than 5 minutes? Why does everything have to be so complicated?

-Then I'm out, - said Billy.

Good intentions are always taken for granted, he will sit in his room sleeping until six in the morning and then make basic drawings.

-Hahaha, see, he has the humor of dogs, he needs a lot of love, he's desperate, and I think if we don't indulge him, he might have a heart attack with all the anger he holds in his heart, - said Julie, out loud, knowing that it annoyed Billy to be treated like someone who ignored him.

Both approached Billy and hugged him tightly, with enough force so that he couldn't let go at the right moment to beg Billy to take them dancing ten blocks down in the bar area.

...