257. The final montage — the ultimate cum montage. Everybody comes. Everybody. It’s just one spurting penis after another in close-up, intercut with shots of SOPHIE’S face. Cum, face, cum, face, ad nauseam. One might legitimately call this the climax of the film.
258. Two-shot, PLUTO and SOPHIE, favoring SOPHIE. She’s disillusioned and he’s sympathetic. She runs toward him and he puts his arm very gently around her shoulders.
Pluto, take me home.
259. Interior of SOPHIE’S apartment. Start the sequence again on a close-up of PLUTO’S dish of ice cream. Pull back to reveal a two-shot. SOPHIE is over by her sexual this and thats and looking at them with noticeably less enthusiasm than she did in the beginning of the film.
Maybe you should have given it a try.
No way, Pluto. Everything I saw just turned me off more than ever. I’d seen it all before in different forms. I don’t remember who was the noblest Roman of them all, but he was nowhere to be seen.
260. Close on PLUTO.
If you knew what it took to put that orgy together. That was a big-budget operation, Sophie. The paperwork alone...
(OC) I appreciate that, Pluto.
261. Two-shot.
I mean it was a hell of a show to close in New Haven.
It was a flop. You can’t put the blame on the audience.
I guess not (Sighs.) Well, I have to hand it to you, Sophie, you did it.
Did it? The whole point is I didn’t do it.
262. Close on PLUTO.
You beat the devil. (Beat.) You signed away your soul, put it on the line and we had to renege on the deal, (As quoting.) “In the event of nonperformance by the assignee, all rights conveyed in this agreement revert permanently to the assignor.” In other words...
263. Close on SOPHIE.
(OC)... you’re out of it. You can call your soul your own again.
...I could have done that to begin with.
264. Two-shot.
True.
So I’m right back at square one. (She thinks and then reacts.) Hey, wait a minute, Pluto, I won’t buy that.
You ought to be happy. You had a couple of laughs, a few good scenes, and it didn’t cost you a cent. You...
265. Close on SOPHIE.
You think I’m going to let your firm weasel out on this? You think I’m going to settle for being a broken-down old slob again with my tits hanging down to my knees? (Towering over him, shaking a finger in his face.) No way, buster. You go home and read that contract over a little more closely. Fine print and all.
(Backing off.) I think I’ll have to, uh, consult a higher authority on this.
266. SOPHIE POV PLUTO.
(Is advancing on him, and he just manages to snap his fingers and disappear before she reaches him. We hold on SOPHIE. Her arm drops to her side. Her shoulders slump again and the emotion that she has been feeling leaves her. She seems the same way she did in the beginning of the scene. She walks out of frame and comes back dragging a large plastic garbage can. She picks a sexual artifact off the shelf, shakes her head at it, and shitcans it. She dumps a few more of them in the can and we slowly) DISSOLVE:
267. Interior of PLUTO’S office, a tiny, airless cubicle the size of a broom closet. There is a framed picture of the devil on the wall with a sign underneath saying “the boss.” The shot starts on a small sign on the front of his desk: “You don’t have to be crazy to work here but it helps.” PLUTO is sitting at the desk, using one finger to type out a form on a prehistoric typewriter. The phone rings, he answers it.
Yes?
Legal’s due for a roasting.
You mean...
We’re locked in. I went all the way to the top on this. (PLUTO glances at the picture of the devil.) He wasn’t happy at being disturbed, but the orders were clear.
And?
Basically, whatever Sophie wants, Sophie gets.
(Awed.) Carte blanche?
Not to mention Diner’s Club and American Express. An absolute blank check.
And when she wants something, and then it doesn’t work.
You give her something else.
This could go on forever. And this case has already lasted forever. Can’t they bring in somebody else?
You’re it, kiddo.
(Whining a little.) But I’ve got a vacation coming up next month. I’m booked into the Limbo Hilton for three weeks. I’ll lose my deposit.
So it goes.
But that’s Hell!
So what else is new?