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["Endless, Pt. 1" by Phosphorescent playing]
[soulful vocalizing]
[projector whirring]
[male vocalist] ♪ Through My window, I knows ♪
♪ About the wind When it blows ♪
♪ About the lights From the road ♪
♪ And their Every nightly glow ♪
♪ Guessin'’ oh How they'’d explode ♪
♪ If she should Decide to show ♪
♪ Up among this Empty-handed nest ♪
♪ It'’s endless ♪
♪ Take my feet to the bar ♪
♪ Where I know you at not are ♪
♪ Take my coins Place them there ♪
♪ Make that sound I love to hear ♪
♪ '’Cause I have been long Against this night ♪
♪ I'’ve been a mess My whole life ♪
♪ And I don'’t care What happens next ♪
♪ It'’s endless ♪
[soulful vocalizing]
♪ Still the dawn Fills with me ♪
♪ And my tongue Fills with glee ♪
♪ And your ghost Fills my sight ♪
♪ And the gathering light ♪
♪ Is lying soft Around your feet ♪
♪ As you turn to ask of me ♪
♪ "Is it long, my love Until we rest?" ♪
♪ It'’s endless ♪
[man] I was not present when my father died.
I arrived a week after.
He was sick, but his death was unexpected.
He had agreed to a day-long interview
to be conducted by former students of his
in his apartments in Old Montreal.
[groaning very softly]
[groans]
[sighs]
I forget why I agreed to do this.
Tell me why I agreed to do this?
Monsieur Fife agreed to make the interview because he'’s famous
-for something to do with cinema. -Ah.
And famous people have to make interviews.
Mm-hm.
Where'’s Emma?
[Emma] I'’m here.
[Fife sighs]
Hey.
You look wonderful.
[Fife scoffs]
I certainly don'’t feel calm.
Don'’t feel calm.
Oh, cherie.
Uh, we'’re ready.
One minute.
[Fife sighs]
I need her fucking here.
She'’s the only reason I agreed to do this goddamn thing.
If she'’s not there, I'’m shutting it down.
-Emma'’s here, Emma's here. -Right behind you, Leo.
You know, what I got to say, I don'’t want to say it twice.
It'’s a lot easier to say what I wanna say
if I know who I'’m talking to.
You'’re talking to Malcolm, making a movie.
No, they'’remaking a movie,
Malcolm and Diana.
-Uh-huh. -Professor Fife.
Ah.
[exhales]
You'’re blessed, yeah.
We'’ve arranged the place for the interview there.
Um, you look great.
Yeah, I'’ve never looked better.
You remember your fellow classmates?
Of course.
Malcolm and Diana.
Mr. and Mrs. Ken Burns of Canada.
Don'’t be cruel.
We'’re used to it, Em.
Uh, Diana will be behind the camera,
and this is our assistant du jour,Sloane.
I have a last name, Sloane Ambrose.
We have you right here on the X.
Um, yeah.
Perfect.
Okay, um, indicate when you'’re ready.
As discussed, we want to record your progress
from your arrival in Canada as a draft refugee
through your career as a filmmaker.
Um, we'’ve prepared a list of 25 questions.
Your career is an emblem of political filmmaking.
Ah, we'’re using the camera technique
you pioneered.
Where'’s my wife?
[Emma] I'’m here.
[Malcolm] Consider it a protégé'’s homage.
No objection.
And, also, we don'’t have to finish today.
We can continue tomorrow.
Just sit there till I finish telling everything, okay?
Yeah. [laughs]
We'’ve worked up some great questions for you.
Oh, I'’m sure you have.
Rene said you wouldn'’t begin unless Emma was present.
Is it true?
Mostly true, yeah.
I might have done it, but differently.
[Emma] Why?
For the record.
What record?
[Leo] I don'’t know. Like giving testimony.
It'’s easier when I say it to you.
[Emma exhales]
[Malcolm] Okay, let'’s begin.
Lights, please.
[Sloane] Leonard Fife, December 22, 2023.
[hands clap]
[Malcolm] Leonard, I'’d like to begin with--
The story begins...
the night of March 30th, 1968.
Richmond, Virginia.
That'’s when the poisonous flower first bloomed.
[soft music playing]
My wife, Alicia, and I were visiting her parents'’ home.
[Alicia laughs]
[Alicia groans]
[Alicia] Goodnight.
Ooh, the baby'’s restless tonight.
"There was once a velveteen rabbit.
And in the beginning, he was real splendid.
He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be.
His coat was spotted brown and white,
he had real thread whiskers,
and his ears were lined with pink sateen.
On Christmas morning..."
Oh.
Well, that was quick.
Can I listen?
Oh, I can hear him.
Hm?
Or her.
She'’ll be a girl.
And then we'’ll be the perfect family,
mom, pop, son, daughter.
I wish I could stay.
Mm.
When'’s the flight?
It'’s first thing.
Don'’t wake up, I'll take a cab.
Give my best to Stanley and Gloria.
What an unexpected couple.
Still together.
And I should be there by dinner.
[knocking at door]
[Alicia] Dad.
I'’m sorry, darlin'.
Leonard, join me for a personal conversation
before dinner?
Sure.
[Alicia'’s dad] Game room. Have a snootful.
I'’ll be there in 15.
[kisses]
[knocking at door]
Leonard.
Come on in.
Have a seat.
Would you like an excellent cigar
made by Cuban exiles?
You know what, actually, I'’m trying to stop smoking
on account of Alicia'’s pregnancy.
But, yes.
[Alicia'’s dad] So, I gather
this is a crucial moment in your lives.
For you and Alicia, I mean.
Yes, sir, you know, it'’s a-- uh, it'’s a big change.
-[clears throat] -[Alicia'’s dad] For all of us.
It will be a long ways away from Richmond,
but, uh, you'’ll have to come visit us in Vermont sometimes.
Often.
I'’ve never been there.
Vermont.
[Leo] Yeah, and we'’ll come down and visit as often as possible.
Especially when I'’m not teaching, you know,
when college is out and...
It'’s a good little college, I hear.
Goddard.
One of those, uh, progressive colleges
from Alicia'’s description.
[Leo] Yes, sir.
[man] My father has not told him
that he could stay on at UVA for another three years.
He hasn'’t told Alicia either.
[knocking at door]
Come in.
I'’ve asked my brother, Jackson, to join us.
Come on in, Jack, pull up a chair.
[Jackson] Ben tells me you'’re going north tomorrow.
Closed a deal on a place you bought up there.
[Leo] Yeah, that'’s correct.
-[Leo clears throat] -[Jackson] I know.
You got yourself a teaching job up there.
A long ways from your children'’s grandparents.
Does your own family still live up there?
Oh, they'’ve, uh, they'’ve moved to Maine.
That'’s a damn long ways away.
Son, let me cut to the chase.
My brother and I have been discussing a proposal,
a business arrangement we'’d like you to consider
before you make your big move north.
Beech and Nettleson have bought out
a dozen family-owned health and pharmaceutical companies.
They would like to purchase Dr. Todd'’s.
The offer is substantial.
In the millions.
That'’s a problem.
[distant dog barking]
W-what'’s the problem?
[Jackson chuckles]
The next generation is the problem.
It'’s all girls.
You have Ben'’s one and my three.
None of my girls nor the boys they married
is fit to run a lemonade stand.
We'’ve grown to like you.
Well, you hired a private detective.
[Ben] Just to check you out.
I'’d already told Alicia I'’d been married before.
With a child.
[Jackson] We'’d like you to consider a proposition
that Ben and I have been discussing with our attorneys.
We'’d like you to hold off on that purchase
of the place in Vermont and join Dr. Todd'’s.
We'’d like you to consider becoming an executive officer.
Not right away, of course, but soon.
Mm, maybe very soon.
Chief executive officer.
Dr. Todd'’s would be yours, Leonard.
Not Beech and Nettleson.
Company would stay in the family.
Well?
What about it, son?
I-I'’m surprised and flattered.
I, uh, I never contemplated working for Dr. Todd'’s,
let alone chief executive officer.
Uh, I'’m just--I'm not sure that my background--
If you'’re thinking of your literary ambitions,
you don'’t need to give that up.
It'’s not a full-time commitment.
T.S. Eliot was a banker.
Wallace Stevens ran an insurance company
in Connecticut.
Herman Melville, your favorite,
he worked as a customs officer.
It'’s a long list.
My brother'’s done his homework.
[Jackson chuckles]
[Leo] Well.
I mean, that certainly gives me a lot to, uh,
to think about, uh...
I'’d have to talk to Alicia first.
You take your time, take your time.
It'’s the biggest decision you'’re gonna make in your life.
We can hold off Beech and Nettleson
for another week or two.
I mean, I would probably have to get a haircut,
shave the mustache.
[Jackson] Mm.
[chuckling]
Okay, um... you give me a week to decide.
[soft music playing]
Thank you. I'’m, uh, I'm very grateful.
[Leo] My head was still spinning
when I returned to the guest bedroom.
As the Viet Cong mounted attacks
down the length of South Vietnam,
the massive buildup of North Vietnamese Army regular--
I told Alicia what her father and uncle had offered me.
They what?
What do you mean?
How'’s Cornel?
Restless but fine.
Yeah, they, um...
Yeah, they told me that if I came out as an executive,
they wouldn'’t sell Dr. Todd's to Beech and Nettleson.
They would stay on for a transition
and then...
basically turn the company over to me.
Yeah.
They didn'’t talk about money or stock options or anything.
I mean, not that that would matter one way or the other.
-Wow. -Wow.
Yeah, wow.
-Wow. -Yes.
That'’s the last thing I expected from those two.
I thought, you know, to them I was, like,
from another planet.
Oh, you, honey.
They know you'’re smart.
They just have to get used to you.
I just don'’t feel comfortable with them.
I...
Their wealth, manners.
Genteel Southern white politics.
Just--I know you feel the same.
Mm. Well, times change.
And people change.
Ah. Private detectives.
Don'’t be a broken record.
Dad must have talked to Mom about this.
This would mean we would live in Richmond.
But you never signed a contract, right?
It was just a verbal agreement.
-You'’re kidding, right? -Yes, of course.
Of course I'’m kidding.
Yeah.
It is a stunner.
Isn'’t it just a wee bit tempting?
No.
No, not at all.
No.
No, I'’d be drunk or dead before I hit my mid-30s.
Oh, Dad barely spent five hours a day at Dr. Todd'’s.
The company runs itself.
You could continue writing.
Vermont will be the summer home.
You really want me to take this offer, don'’t ya?
No, of course not.
And I don'’t want you not to take it either.
There would be support with the children.
Enough money for private school.
We could build our own house.
You know what this offer is.
This means you have a family.
How'’d you leave it?
[Leo sighs]
I told '’em I'’d have to talk to you.
I said I'’d get back to them after this trip to Vermont.
Well, it'’s a huge decision.
We'’ll sleep now, sweetie, come to bed.
You have two flights and a long drive
ahead of you tomorrow.
["All of It, All" by Phosphorescent playing]
Yeah.
[male singer] ♪ A coward this morning ♪
♪ Black after backing away ♪
♪ No explanation Could ever explain it away ♪
♪ Could your bones Be so bright? ♪
♪ Would it all be all right ♪
♪ If you laid them tonight ♪
♪ Ah, with me ♪
♪ Safe beside ♪
♪ Your arms can be magic ♪
♪ It all can be magic You know ♪
[chair clatters]
♪ You all ways can have it ♪
Thanks.
[male singer] ♪ But not like you wanted ♪
Breakfast?
Oh, no, no, I'’m eager to get on my way.
Cornel woke me up.
Hey.
Thought I'’d bring him to see his daddy for breakfast.
Good morning.
-Good morning. -Good morning.
Hi.
Oh!
Don'’t think about taking a cab.
I mean, there'’s really no point
in you driving all the way out there and back.
It'’s a pleasant ride to Byrd Field.
Do you want to use Benjamin'’s shaver?
[Alicia] Honey.
That man is unstable.
Well, Daddy, of course he is.
What 22-year-old man isn'’t?
I wouldn'’t want him stable.
All right.
Oh. What do you think, Cornel?
-Hm? -Hm?
Should I...
-Good. -Oh, okay.
[Alicia chuckles]
I won'’t be long, I'’ll be right back.
[male singer] ♪ Sometimesy ou have to be cruel ♪
♪ It'’s sad that it's sad ♪
♪ But don'’t let that Dampen you ♪
♪ No, to live you must die ♪
♪ Yes, and more than one time ♪
♪ You must kiss it goodbye ♪
[Cornel] My father was wearing a khaki jacket.
I didn'’t see him again for 30 years.
Can we stop for a moment?
We don'’t have to change cards yet.
This is for Sloane.
Sloane, the microphone has fallen.
Just adjust the mic.
This time, run it under the shirt.
[Leo] She smells like desire itself.
What do I smell like?
Especially to a young woman.
Can she pick up the odor of the medications?
The anti-androgens and the Taxotere.
And the bisphosphonates
that keep my bones from breaking under my weight.
The smell of dried feces clinging to my ass.
Tell me again why I came home from the hospital.
Well, I'’m sure you'’re a lot happier here.
Emma'’s nearby, and everything'’s familiar.
Where the hell is my wife?
[footsteps]
[Emma] Sorry.
I had to step out.
I got a text on my phone I had to answer right away.
Okay, Leo, um, I think we'’ve gotten a little off track.
Yeah, you messed with the continuity.
It'’s gonna look edited.
Sorry?
You go on talking.
I know most of the stuff, some of it, anyway.
No, you don'’t. You don'’t know any of it.
No.
Some of this I'’ve never even told myself.
It'’s...
[sighs]
This is a gift to you, my love.
You will know me.
You'’ve been talking for almost an hour.
Maybe you should take a break.
How old are you, Sloane?
Twenty-four.
Why?
[Leo] [whispers] Yeah.
When I was 22...
I'’d already been married, fathered a child,
gotten divorced.
By the time I was your tender age, Sloane,
I had... ruined my life.
Imagine if everything good that could ever happen to you
has already happened.
You were a hero.
You stood up against the war, the draft.
[scoffs]
[Leo] Does she really believe that?
I wanna continue.
Turn on the camera.
Lights, please.
[Leo] Let'’s go, come on.
[Malcolm] Okay, let'’s pick up from when you arrived
in Canada as a draft resister.
[Sloane] Leonard Fife. December 22, 2023.
[hands clap]
I changed planes in Washington D.C.,
Washington National it was called then.
I had a cashier'’s check for $23,000
from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in my pocket.
This was to pay for the Vermont house...
the title to which was to be held
solely by the Alicia Violet Chapman Trust.
[indistinct PA announcement]
Perhaps that eight-millimeter film
still exists somewhere,
proof that Leonard Fife was seen, and filmed,
in Washington National Airport
on March 31st, 1968, 10:58 a.m.
[indistinct chatter]
[woman] Flight 291 is now boarding.
All passengers please proceed to Gate Four.
[Malcolm] This documentary will make Leonard Fife
as big in the Canadian collective memory
as Glenn Gould.
It will resurrect all his films.
It will make the public rethink what it means
to be an artiste engagé.
From your position against the war
to your most recent work.
[Diana] It'’s a token of respect.
Believe me, Leo will come off as totally sympathetic.
It will be their film, Leo.
[Leo sighs]
All set, Mr. Fife.
Have a great flight.
[Leo] I felt suddenly giddy.
As if something was about to happen.
A big reveal which will affect everyone on the plane.
As if the plane is about to explode,
and I would be the sole survivor.
Wait.
You were smoking on an airplane?
This was 1968.
Ah, yeah.
Of course, sorry.
May I continue?
[Malcolm] Please.
[Leo] I grew up in Strafford.
About 20 miles northwest of Boston proper.
I'’m, um, headed up to Montpelier in Vermont.
Goddard College.
Oh, yeah, yeah, that'’s a good school.
It is, yeah, I got a teaching job there.
I'’m buying a place.
I should be back with the car in a couple of days.
[Leo] After college, I headed south.
I met Amy in a bar in St. Petersburg.
[lively music playing]
Amy was 18.
I was on my way to Cuba.
-Hi. -Hey.
I never made it to Cuba.
We were married four months later.
She was the sweetest thing.
[indistinct chatter]
She was already a month pregnant.
She named our daughter Heidi
because that was her favorite book.
True.
I was working on a novel.
You wrote a novel?
Ah, no, no, no.
It was just...
It was awful, shit.
Pretentious literary drivel.
No, I have no idea what happened to the manuscript.
Things...
Things disappear, they get lost.
Left behind.
Like people...
you once loved, who loved you.
A writer.
Yes.
Like any self-absorbed 20-year-old man
who wants to be regarded as a writer,
much more than he wants to write.
Yeah, From Here to Eternity,
they call thatwriting.
Bullshit, you know,
I read that book in a day.
That'’s not--that's not writing.
It'’s fucking--it's typing.
[Leo] Who doesn'’t know how to define love
because he'’s never loved anyone.
I love you, Amy.
I love you, I promise.
I'’m never gonna leave you, all right?
I promise. I love you.
-Please, Leo. -I love you.
Please.
[Leo] Maybe if he says it enough,
he will feel it.
[sobs]
[energetic music playing]
[female singer] ♪ Oh, stop ♪
♪ Don'’t worry about it ♪
[Leo] Her name was Amanda.
[female singer] ♪ Stop ♪
♪ Don'’t worry about it ♪
[man] But you'’re not listening, you'’re not listening.
Without emotion, there is no color, right?
And without color, no emotion, okay?
-[Leo] Franz Kline, right? -[man 2] Where'’s Amy?
-She'’s home. -[man] Franz Kline, Franz Klein.
Listen, if color is invisible...
is there no emotion?
[man 3] Jesus.
[man 4] Art is about waiting, even in painting.
Take Leo here, he'’s waiting.
-No I'm not, I'’m not waiting. -You'’re not writing.
-That'’s called waiting. -I'’m writing.
-[man 2] I'’m getting beer. -[man] He'’s writing, he's writing.
Okay? Look, look, history is waiting, right?
Yeah? Leo, what are you waiting for?
[man 4] You'll never be a great painter if you keep talking.
-[man 2] Fuck off. -I'’m waiting for, you know,
everything to just kind of fall into place.
Yeah, right, there you go.
See? See? '’Cause art doesn'’t have a subject, okay?
Documentaries have subjects, all right?
[funky music playing]
What'’s that?
It'’s the novel he's not writing.
[Amanda] "The first move he ever made
was to crawl for the door, and every move since."
Not bad.
Well... well, there'’s more where that came from.
Can I have a ciggy?
Oh, this is--this is, uh, Stanley Reinhart.
He, uh, he paints big.
Real big.
Amanda.
Clark.
[tires squeak]
[engine rumbling]
[dog barking]
[Leo] Amanda was a jazz pianist.
She said she was the mistress of Gerry Mulligan,
but he was always on the road.
[birds singing]
[dog barks]
Amy.
Amanda.
Alicia.
All those "A"s.
[moaning]
[Leo] I made love to Amanda once.
And Amy did not find out.
No consequences.
But I couldn'’t believe that I wouldn'’t do it again.
And then, again.
Until Amanda has fallen in love with me.
And Amy would find out.
Well, I'’ll tell her myself.
Or... or someone who knows you or me will tell her,
and...
and then Amy won'’t have any choice but to leave me.
Do you love her?
It'’s an impasse, then.
It'’s fine.
It'’s all right, Leo.
Now, come back to bed.
[Leo] There'’s no other way
to escape two unacceptable alternatives
than to create a third.
Stop. That'’s enough.
Stop this now.
He needs a break.
He'’s confused.
It'’s his medication.
I won a Genie Award, and a Gemini.
We won an Oscar.
He confabulates like he'’s dreaming.
It'’s wrong to be doing this.
Most of what he'’s saying is either misremembered
or half-invented.
It'’s wrong to be filming this, Malcolm,
even if you end up not using it.
I made a career...
from...
getting truth out of people...
that told me what they wouldn'’t tell others.
[sighing] And now, it'’s my turn.
And I can'’t tell the truth unless that camera'’s on,
and you are my witness.
[Leo sighs]
This is my final prayer.
That whether or not you believe in God...
you don'’t lie when you pray.
[Diana] He seems to want to continue.
Hit the lights, please.
[Leo] Photography versus life.
Reality versus image.
Susan Sontag'’s On Photography.
Seminal work.
Six essays. I'’m sure you've all read this.
If you haven'’t, you will have, by next class.
Okay. Yeah.
"After the event has ended," Sontag writes,
"the picture will still exist,
conferring on the event a kind of immortality
that would never otherwise have existed.
While real people are out there killing other real people,
the photographer stays behind his or her camera,
creating an image world that bids to outlast us all."
Jamie, you wanna turn the lights out?
Okay. Famous photograph.
Yeah, this was taken by photojournalist Eddie Adams
the morning of February 1st, 1968.
It shows the execution
of Vietcong prisoner Nguyen Van Lem...
by General Nguyen Ngoc Loan...
on Ngo Gia Tu Street, Saigon.
This photograph won Adams a Pulitzer Prize.
Van Lem will never die.
General Loan will never die.
Every time this photograph is seen...
they'’re alive again.
Emma?
Ms. Flynn, you disagree?
There'’s another way to put it.
Van Lem isn'’t going to be living forever.
He'’s going to be dying forever,
every time someone shows that image.
One second!
Did you... did you really not know this
about the wife in Virginia, and the son,
and the other wife and the baby?
Jesus, Sloane.
Leave it alone.
He'’s mixing things together,
memories, films, fantasies, other people'’s stories.
Emma knows the story of Fife better than anyone.
She'’s been living with him 30 years.
I know everything I need to know.
Jesus, you'’re talking about me
like I'’m not in the fucking room!
I can hear you!
-[sighs] -Darling, I'’m sorry.
[scoffs]
[sighs]
Right. It-it'’s not about the meds either, she'’s wrong.
Emma is wrong.
She doesn'’t know everything she needs to know.
[labored breath]
You believe me, right, Rene?
[in French]
Let'’s take a break.
No. No breaks, no, no, we work.
Come on, let'’s just keep going.
Can we do that?
Okay. Lower the lights.
Dark, I need dark.
You, get behind your machine there.
Your... Errol Morris doohickey, whatever you call it.
Interrotron.
Based on the technique you pioneered.
Not me.
[coughing] Sigmund Freud.
The interviewer'’s not in the sight line.
It'’s that simple, right?
Uh, you position yourself so that the subject
can only look directly down the lens.
And if you'’re silent long enough,
you'’re unseen long enough...
people will talk, they can'’t help themselves.
[chuckling]
Freud.
He was sitting there in his chair next to the chaise.
He understood this very well.
Listen.
Wait.
[coughing]
Leo, do you need some water?
[exclaims]
Yeah.
Yeah, I saw that...
documentary that you made about Chernobyl.
Yeah, I could count the inaccuracies
with eight fingers, one hand.
[Emma laughs]
[Emma] Leo.
Get him some water, Sloane.
I'’m just doing what I always did,
spoke the truth, uh-huh.
But not you.
No, no, no, uh-uh.
[swallowing hard] You fraud.
I don'’t wanna see you anymore.
Fraud.
Fraud!
[inhales noisily]
Yeah. I wanna see Emma up here.
I want my wife.
I want Emma!
Yeah. Put Emma on there.
[Malcolm] Have a seat.
[Leo] Lights.
[Emma] I'’m here, Leo.
Yeah? Hi.
Okay, let'’s start with In the Mist,
the documentary about Dow Chemical testing
Agent Orange in New Brunswick for use in Vietnam.
That put you on the map.
You almost went to jail for it.
The way from Boston to Montpelier
led past The Fens and north through Strafford,
the town where I was raised.
[horn honks]
["Where to Strip" playing] ♪ Your timing is always off ♪
♪ Bless you and keep you ♪
♪ Oh, brother ♪
[Leo] I thought I might want to write about it,
so I decided to stop and pick up a map.
[engine puttering]
[male singer] ♪ Please, I'’ve waited ♪
♪ Please ♪
♪ I'’ve waited ♪
[counterman exclaims]
Mr. Leonard Fife!
Long time, no see.
Good to see you, Jimmy.
Times moves fast, huh?
Ah, well, not when you'’re scoopin'’ ice cream, boss.
The regular?
Yeah, what was that?
Ah! Coffee and a bran muffin.
Buttered, heated.
All right, sounds good.
You know what? You never told me.
What was Cuba like?
-Cuba? -[door closes]
Leo.
Is everything okay?
Yeah, yeah. I hitched.
[man] You hitched.
From college?
Pa, you'’ll have to hurry
if you'’re gonna catch the 9:27 train.
We have a lot to talk about.
[footsteps]
-[door opens, closes] -[priest] Listen to me, Leonard.
You can'’t walk out on the world for being what it is.
You'’re 18,
and you'’re dismissing the world because it'’s not
as idealistic as you are?
It may turn out, in a decade or two,
you'’ll discover you could have done more
to help the poor and oppressed
by staying in college and getting your degree.
Or at least serving your country.
Then wandering off like some sort of hobo.
It'’s my decision, so-so please,
stop telling me why I should stay in college.
Why should I become a doctor or some kind of businessman?
Reverend, I imagine you wanna comfort my mother,
since she'’s the one who called you here.
Are you going out, Leo?
Don'’t worry, I'll be back. I'’m not leavin' for good.
Not till after Christmas, anyway.
Where will you go after Christmas?
Where can you go after you'’ve left college
and your home?
To Cuba.
Cuba.
What a grand idea.
Back when I was your age,
I came damn close to running off to Spain
to fight with the Lincoln Brigade.
Some of my friends did.
Had brilliant careers ahead of '’em,
in spite of being communist.
Say, maybe you wanna try a darker tie.
[soft holiday music playing]
The ones that came back, though, found it wasn'’t so easy
to pick up where they left off.
Things had changed.
Russkies, the Chinese.
Gotta run "toot sweet."
Look. You pick out a couple of ties you like
for my brother-in-law.
You got good taste,
my son thinks one hell of a lot of you.
Let'’s hope he doesn't jump the traces
and follow you off to Cuba, for Christ'’s sake.
I'’ll be back tomorrow.
[clears his throat, inhales]
You know, I wrote a recommendation letter
to Rumford, don'’t you?
Yes, sir, I do.
Your parents are proud of you, Leo, proud.
You'’re all they've got.
You decide to go back to Rumford,
maybe I can make a few calls.
Come by the house.
We can have a few drinks and talk this thing out,
man to man.
Promise me that?
That'’s-that's very generous of you, Mr. Callahan.
I won'’t let you down.
[Callahan] No.
Happy New Year.
Oh. Tell Mr. Varney I said hello, and...
[chuckling]
...don'’t forget to lock up.
Happy New Year.
[door closes]
[clears throat]
[lock clicks]
[soft, tense music playing]
[paper bag rustling]
[cash register rings]
[Malcolm] Uh, wait a second.
I don'’t get it, this doesn'’t make sense.
What? What don'’t you get?
There were... Give me an example.
It all connects.
Well, the clothes, for one thing.
The clothes you lifted from the store,
gloves and Pendletons, those are winter clothes.
Sounds like you were going to Canada, not Cuba.
Did you ever make it to Cuba?
No, no, it was over before I got there.
Um...
Florida.
I... I got as far as Florida.
The girl who got pregnant with the baby Heidi?
Amy.
[male singer] ♪ I'’ll tellt he world ♪
♪ That I'’m in love with you ♪
[Sloane] What about the trip across the country?
Malcolm gave me a copy of On the Road.
He told me you took a trip like that.
Sloane!
[chuckling] That was a cockful,
stupid thing, yeah, it was me.
My buddy, Nick De Fina.
So, he gave her a copy ofOn the Road.
He'’s fucking her.
Yes, he is.
And Diana knows about it.
And Sloane thinks she doesn'’t.
She thinks she'’s in love with this 50-year-old man.
Oh, he'’s fucking her, all right.
Diana deserves better.
She is better than him.
Now, from page one,
we know how our biography will end.
The subject dies.
But with an interview...
no, you can'’t be sure how the thing will turn out.
Malcolm would be nowhere without Diana.
He'’d be making local TV commercials
in Winnipeg.
Or promotional docs for Caribbean timeshares.
He convinced her he was more talented than her.
How do I know?
So, where are you from?
Uh, well...
[Leo] Because I did the same thing
when I seduced her.
Yes, yeah, yeah, Bonneil, my parents also.
Yeah. I love having you in the class.
Oh, I love... I love this opportunity,
it'’s, uh, it's so inspiring.
[clears throat]
So, Nick, he, I don'’t know,
feeling guilty about everything, I guess,
he goes to a priest, he confesses,
about the car and the blind bugger,
and the priest calls the cops.
So, that'’s the end of it, the end of our big adventure.
We, uh... we go home.
I was never the same.
[Emma] This is hard on me, Leo.
I mean, I know I'’m not the one who'’s sick,
but this is like some kind of post-mortem.
You'’re exhausted.
The meds are messing with your mind, darling.
You'’re confused.
You'’re saying things that shouldn'’t be said on camera!
Can we please just stop this now
and try again when you'’re feeling better?
When am I feelin'’ better?
I'’m never feeling better, you know that.
A priest turned you and your buddy in.
I thought that--
[Leo] We drove across the country.
Made it all the way to California, actually,
going to Australia.
We ended up there...
at a YMCA.
[Rene] It'’s time to change your bag, Mr. Fife.
You need to go to the restroom.
[Malcolm] Let'’s take a break.
Sloane, get the mic, please.
[soft ambient music playing]
[Leo clears his throat]
[door closes]
[clattering]
[toilet flushing]
-[Rene] Up! -[Leo grunts]
That'’s it. Jacket.
All right.
Now.
Sidestep, nice and easy, that'’s good.
Okay, pants.
And down.
-That'’s good. -[Leo grunts]
-Okay. All right. -[Rene] Okay.
Call me when you'’re ready to be wiped.
[Leo] Yes.
I could go silent,
the way I did when I stopped eating.
Then I would disappear.
What'’s left of me is in my brain.
When you have no future,
all you have left is your past.
And if your past is a lie, like mine,
especially to those closest to you,
a fiction...
then you can'’t exist,
except as a fictional character.
[distant bird calling]
We'’ve got plenty of good material.
Why don'’t we break for the day?
[Diana] Or at least for some lunch.
I can go make us some sandwiches.
Why is he doing this?
[Emma] What?
This.
He wants to confess.
[Diana] What?
That he'’s a coward and he never loved anyone.
[Diana] Is it true?
No.
We'’ve got a lot of material.
Sometimes, you don'’t know what you know
until you see it afterwards.
He never saw his son again?
He ran into Cornel in Montreal at a screening.
I was there.
[Leo] Rene?
You'’ve done so much for him, Emma.
I'’ll go make us those sandwiches.
[Leo] If your doctor ever asks you to stop by, don'’t.
[Emma] Test results.
[eerie ambient music playing]
Cancer?
What kind?
Not the good kind.
You'’re a survivor, Leo.
We'’ll get through this together.
We'’re a team.
Merry Christmas.
Happy Holidays.
Sontag and Freud died over the holidays.
Excruciating deaths.
[clears his throat]
How can so much suffering have no meaning?
[Malcolm] Uh, okay.
Where'’s Emma?
[Diana] Making some lunch.
Are you all right?
Yeah, I just... just give me time to finish this.
[sighs deeply]
I know you think this is a fiction.
I don'’t care.
I don'’t care what you do with my story
once I finish telling it.
I don'’t care.
Cut and splice it, do whatever you want.
Yeah, I heard you whispering, I'’ll be dead.
Do whatever you want with it.
But you will have witnessed me telling my wife,
my beautiful wife,
what kind of man she married.
It will verify
that there was this intimacy between a man and his wife.
This intimacy could not have happened
without this camera and this microphone.
[sighs]
Where is she?
Come on, it'’s a natural, you and me.
I can make documentaries, but you,
you have people skills.
[soft cocktail music playing]
I think we'’d make a great team.
[faint indistinct chatter]
Emma!
[sighs softly]
Emma.
[clears his throat]
Where is she?
Lunch is ready.
-Let'’s take a break. -[Leo] No, not now.
Let'’s go. Lights down.
Come on.
-[door closes] -Come on!
[inhales, exhales forcefully]
Okay.
Hi.
Where were we?
[Malcolm] Uh, you were in Feeney'’s Pharmacy.
Feeney'’s, right, okay, yeah.
All right, yeah, I stopped to get a map.
-Here you go. -Thanks.
[indistinct chatter]
[melancholic music playing]
Montpelier was 150 miles northwest of Strafford.
I missed the turnoff for the interstate
and took U.S. 4 north.
[engine puttering]
[Malcolm] Leo?
Are you all right?
No, no, I, um...
Wait a minute, I don'’t know, starting in the wrong place.
I don'’t know where the hell we are.
I'’m confused!
[Leo exclaims]
Now, uh...
[inhaling, exhaling deeply] Yeah, just, um...
You wanted to hear about Into the Mist,right?
-[Malcolm] Yeah. -Yeah.
It was a fluke.
[telephone ringing]
[man] Can you believe this?
[unintelligible]
Stop the war. Can I help you?
[Leo] After I arrived in Canada,
I met a fellow from Oklahoma, Ralph Dennis.
[telephone ringing]
Where you from?
New England.
-Up here for a visit? -Yeah.
Uncle Sam'’s after me.
You speak French?
Uh, like a year in high school.
[Ralph] So you'’re a guy
with all the talents but no skill.
And you don'’t speak French,
and you don'’t own any property here?
No.
Don'’t look good, brother.
You'’re gonna need landed status if you wanna stay in Canada,
and that won'’t happen in Quebec.
You need to get to a province where they have use for Anglos.
I know this fellow who manages a truck farm
in Gagetown, New Brunswick.
I work there in the summers.
You should come along.
[Leo] It began as a lark.
Photograph the different color dustings,
then make a psychedelic montage.
[engine roaring]
[filmstrip clicking]
[psychedelic music playing]
I thought it was trippy,
but it turned out it was a secret American Army test
by Dow, of Agent Orange.
It was a scandal,
and I was a documentary film director.
Then, I became a good documentary film director.
[solemn music playing]
Wait a minute, what the hell'’s going on?
I don'’t think I...
[sighs heavily]
Is the camera rollin'’?
What... What'’s goin' on?
[eerie music playing]
I must sound like a madman,
one of those homeless schizophrenics
wandering about,
muttering to themselves.
Maybe that'’s the idea, maybe it'’s just
keep the camera rollin'’ until...
Ol'’ Leo Fife kicks the bucket...
on camera.
Where'’s Malcolm?
Uh, he'’s in the bathroom.
Come on, I ain'’t got all day!
Come on.
Malcolm and Diana.
You'’ll all be heroes.
Be the toast of Canada, the whole bunch of you.
[laughing]
What a terrible thing to say, Leo.
-Sorry about that. -Yeah, welcome back.
All right, where were we? Come on, let'’s go.
[Malcolm] Okay, here we go.
Sloane?
[clears his throat]
[Sloane] Leonard Fife, December 22, 2023.
Yeah, I rented a car at the airport.
Yeah, that'’s a good school.
It is, yeah, I got a teaching job there.
I'’m buyin' a place.
I should be back with the car in a couple of days.
My plan was to stay over
at the painter Stanley Reinhart'’s house,
a friend from Boston,
and his wife, Gloria.
[male singer] ♪ The stars would know ♪
♪ To send you the shivers ♪
♪ The night would glow ♪
♪ In the room In which you swim ♪
[Leo] Stanley taught at Goddard.
He helped me get hired and find a house.
[male singer] ♪ But there'’s all of that doubt ♪
♪ And there'’s All of that skin ♪
♪ But all is grace ♪
[man] Hey, Leo!
[Leo] Hey!
[male singer] ♪ All is beauty ♪
-Welcome! -[Leo] Okay!
[male singer] ♪ And when all this is gone ♪
♪ Beauty will remain ♪
[mellow music playing]
Up here, check this out.
[Leo] Wow.
Hey, man, I'’m sorry I took so long.
[Stanley] Ah, don'’t worry about it.
[Leo] Is this some new work?
[Stanley] Uh, yeah, yeah.
I'’ve, uh, I've hit a bit of a rough patch.
[they chuckle]
I'’ve, uh...
but you know, I like workin'’ with my hands,
I always have.
And, uh, when I'’m lookin'’ for inspiration,
I'’ve been choppin' some wood, so.
I like to imagine the wood stacked all neat
as I go to sleep, you know?
[clears his throat]
-Here you go. -Thank you.
How'’s, uh, how's Gloria?
She'’s inside,
she'’s probably sleepin'.
Oh, she'’s in bed.
Yeah. Shit, I guess it makes for a long story.
I, uh... I tried to get her to go see a shrink.
I even said I'’d go with her.
She'’s got an answer for everything, you know?
[Leo] Mm.
The truth is, she'’s a goddamn masochist,
'’cause the more she hates me and this life,
the happier she becomes.
All right. A, uh, a masochist.
Yeah, man, it'’s the... it'’s the way she talks.
I thought she found a lover.
Then, uh, she laughed in my face, and, uh...
that night, I drove down to Plainfield,
and I, uh, I laid one of my students.
[grunting]
[Leo] You know, you can'’t keep going like this.
[liquid swishing]
Well, if nothing improves by next year, I'’ll...
I'’ll try and make it in New York.
And what about the students you'’re counseling
on avoiding the draft?
What, you'’re just... you'’re just gonna abandon them?
They don'’t need me.
Even though I'’m the only guy on the faculty
that served in the military,
the Canadian border is so close,
they could walk across.
The Canadians would welcome them with open arms.
Right, but what about... what about me and Alicia?
I mean, we'’re moving here.
I'’m bullshitting myself.
Besides, I'’m not ready for the New York scene.
-[Leo] Gloria. -Ciao, Leo.
Stanley told me you were coming.
There was a phone call.
Alicia'’s mother?
I told '’em you would call '’em back.
-Where is that? -In the house.
Follow me.
[rotary dial clicking]
[phone ringing]
I'’m sorry I missed it.
It'’s okay.
I'’ll fix you something.
[clearing throat]
-[Benjamin] Yes? -Hello, Benjamin.
This is, uh, this is Leonard.
Sorry, I just got in.
What'’s going on?
Stanley told me that, uh, that Jessie called?
[Benjamin] It'’s all right now.
We were scared for a while.
Did something happen to Cornel?
[Benjamin] No, no, Cornel is just fine.
He'’s sound asleep now.
Okay, what'’s... what's going on?
-[Jessie] Leo? It'’s Jessie. -Jessie, what'’s wrong?
[Jessie] Alicia'’s fine.
She miscarried this afternoon.
Jesus.
Is she, um, is, uh...
Is...
Is she all right?
[Jessie] Yes.
And, um, the... the fetus,
is the fetus...
[Jessie] It was a girl, Leo.
It wasn'’t right, though, it was malformed,
the doctor said.
Dr. Gold, an excellent man.
-He'’s Jewish. -Did she fall?
[Jessie] It came on very quickly right after lunch.
She started hemorrhaging, and we called the ambulance.
She'’s fine now.
It'’s probably a blessing
since the baby was, well, you know.
She said to give you her love
and tell you she'’s feeling fine, just tired.
Do you think I should just, um, should I just...
Should I just leave for Richmond right away?
I mean, should I leave tonight?
[Jessie] It'’s not necessary.
Everything is over and done for now.
She'’ll call you tomorrow.
[somber music playing]
Just get yourself a good night'’s sleep.
Thank you, thank you, Jessie, and Benjamin, too.
Okay, goodnight. [sniffles]
[receiver clicking]
Um, I'’m going to bed.
Hey.
Jeez, what a fucking shame, man.
What?
What are you... what are you gonna do?
[Leo] I don'’t know, she, uh...
She... she really wanted that baby, and, uh...
And the house, and, God...
[Stanley] Yeah.
I guess I'’ll just leave first thing in the morning.
-[Stanley] Yeah. -Yeah.
[Stanley] Okay.
Okay.
Come here, man.
Give me a hug.
I'’m so sorry, man.
I'’ll set up the cot for you, okay?
Okay.
Thanks, man.
[melancholy music playing]
[Cornel] I was nearly 30 when I decided to find my father.
My mother never spoke of him.
It was easier than I thought.
Computers with data banks had recently come in use.
I'’d often thought about this drive.
Thinking about it and actually doing it
are different things.
Suffer the Innocents
was about the actions of Bishop McCann
and his subsequent trial in Montréal.
The need to balance society'’s obligation
to denounce and deter actions
like those of Bishop McCann with the bishop'’s career
as a distinguished spiritual leader...
-Satan! -...and educator.
Satan'’s spawn!
A monster sent from hell to defile the innocent!
Did I say "defile"?
Fuck! That'’s what you did!
You fucked me!
You ate my childhood!
[Malcolm] The amazing thing, what everybody remembers,
is that you never pan back to the judge.
You closed in on Bishop McCann.
[Judge Uhlig] ...will be required to report weekly
to a probation officer.
You are free to leave this courtroom.
[dark music playing]
[applause]
[speaking French]
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.
It'’s my pleasure to introduce Montréal resident,
the filmmaker Leonard Fife.
Thank you, merci beaucoup.
Um...
Emma, come here.
My wife and my partner in art and life,
Emma Fife.
Without her, I am nothing.
[indistinct chatter]
[Leo] That one was probably... what, Emma?
Two years we worked on that one?
[indistinct remarks]
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Congratulations, Dad.
What?
I'’m your son, Cornel.
-Who'’s this? -[Emma] It'’s Alicia's son.
That'’s right.
I'’m your son.
I don'’t have a son.
Stay away from me.
How'’s your mother?
[Cornel] She'’s good.
Uh, she remarried.
She'’s still in Richmond.
She has two children, she has a good life.
And you?
-Married? -Uh, yeah.
Uh, working at UVA.
Administration.
-That'’s in Richmond. -Charlottesville.
So, he never told you?
I knew, in a fashion.
I don'’t know what to say.
I'’m sorry you had to see that.
I'’m happy I found him.
You know, I...
saw what I needed to see.
[Emma] What was that?
Um...
Can I keep in touch with you?
Do you have an e-mail address?
Electronic mail.
Yeah, of course I have an e-mail.
Still working things out with the computers.
You like Montréal?
Yes.
We have a wonderful marriage.
He'’s faithful to me.
We'’re good together.
You'’ll tell him about our talk?
We'’ll see how that works out.
[mellow music playing]
[door squeaking]
[indistinct chatter]
[in French]
Are you sure he'’s just sleeping?
[Rene] He'’s very fatigued.
[in French]
[Cornel] All creation starts with a single cell of energy
that explodes with a bang and becomes the universe.
Cancer starts the same way.
A single rogue cell breeds a tumor that metastasizes
and sets to eating the body...
and eventually devours it.
That'’s enough, I want you to leave.
You said this would be a token of respect.
We have a contract with the CBC.
[Emma] Fuck your contract.
He wanted to do this.
I never should'’ve agreed.
[Rene] He'’s waking up.
[fire crackling]
-[Leo] Stanley? -[Gloria] No.
It'’s Gloria.
I brought you an extra blanket
'’cause it gets cold in here when the fire goes out.
[Leo moans]
Thank you.
Is there any more wood to put on the fire?
[Gloria] Yes.
[wood clattering]
[Leo] Ah, that'’s great.
I hope Stanley and I talking didn'’t keep you from sleeping.
The walls are thick.
[Leo] Is he asleep now?
He'’s dead to the world.
Couldn'’t wake him if I wanted to, and I don'’t.
Are you gonna leave him?
[Gloria] Yeah, probably.
For another man?
For another life.
Well, here'’s to your new life.
[ambient music playing]
[heavy breathing]
[grunting]
[groaning]
[sighing]
[light clicking]
[paper towel ripping]
[light clicking]
That was fucking scary.
Are you sure he'’s okay?
[Rene] No, he'’s not okay.
I have to take him from you now.
[light clicking]
Just want this pain to end.
[Emma] Mm.
The cancer'’s appetite.
I'’m having so many new thoughts.
Wonderful thoughts.
That'’s it.
Just... pack up and go.
Come.
[mellow music playing]
Don'’t you dare.
Okay, okay.
[metal clanking]
[exhaling]
[grunting]
Okay.
I'’m okay.
Hey.
Get this in the bedroom.
[knocking]
What do you want?
We'’re packing up.
Is there anything we can do?
No.
Just leave us.
I'’m applying a fentanyl patch.
[vocalizing]
[gentle music playing]
[engine starting]
[engine puttering]
[Leo] What did they have, the other men I respected?
What did I not do that Stanley and Ralph and Nick did?
They served in the military.
[vocalizing]
[man 1] Sixty-seven.
Again.
One thirty-eight.
All right, next.
[unintelligible]
[man 2] Take this.
[man 3] Mr. Fife, get dressed.
Meet me downstairs.
[man 1] About 96.
Take a seat.
Your name?
Leonard Fife.
Date of birth.
I mean, it should all be there.
I'’m making sure this is your file
and not some other idiot'’s.
Um...
March 27th...
March 28th, 1942.
Place of residence.
Strafford, Massachusetts.
[lighter clicking]
Mr. Fife...
are you a homosexual?
No, sir.
No.
[repeating "no"]
No, sir, no, no.
Enough.
You'’re 1-Y, Mr. Fife.
That means you'’ll only be called up
in the case of total mobilization.
Take this form and report back to the sergeant.
Get your stuff and go home.
You'’ll receive your draft card in the mail in a few days.
[clearing throat]
-Mr. Fife? -[Leo] Hm?
[discordant electric guitar music]
[rock music playing]
[shaky breathing]
[soft music playing]
[Cornel] He felt as if being pulled into a black hole
from which not even light can escape.
He fights its pull.
He tries to stay here,
standing on the borderline of one country and another,
between the past and present.
Toward evening, something in his throat rattled.
He gasped.
His body twitched
as if to shake off a fallen leaf
or a feather.
[male vocalist] ♪ O Canada ♪
♪ Our home and native land ♪
♪ True patriot love ♪
♪ In all of us command ♪
♪ With glowing hearts We see thee rise ♪
♪ The True North Strong and free ♪
♪ From far and wide ♪
♪ O Canada ♪
♪ We stand on guard for thee ♪
♪ God, keep our land ♪
♪ Glorious and free ♪
O Canada.
[birds chirping]
[male vocalist] ♪ O Canada ♪
♪ We stand on guard for thee ♪
[birds chirping]
[mellow music playing]