Wakefield (2016) Movie Script
Hi, sir.
Just this.
Four.
Thank you.
Furthermore
this indemnification clause
clearly states that there
will be no injunctive relief.
And our client's chances
of being rewarded
financially are minimal
at best.
I'll finish it tomorrow.
Can I be blamed for feeling
that things were a little
strange that night?
You don't expect
a power outage
in the spring.
Not without a storm first.
When you're tired
and it's a long day
and you're trying
to get home
you tend to feel all these
little disconnects
as the slow trajectory
of a collapsing civilization.
At least that's where I go.
"In the suburbs,
we live in nature."
That's a quote
from my realtor
the selling phrase she used
when Diana and I
first looked at this place.
Oh, crap.
And you do see
deer, rabbits, crows.
But we don't live in nature.
That's the point
of the suburbs.
You live apart from humans.
And you're protected
from what's wild.
Jesus.
Go on, get out of here.
Go on!
Go on, get out!
Oh, damn it.
Oh, Christ.
Oh, god. Damn it.
Damn it.
Alright.
Ha! Ha! Go on.
I had quarreled with my wife.
We did this thing
where we would play
at sexual jealousy.
But anyway, um..
Or I played at it
and she was my accomplice.
After 15 years of marriage
jealousy was
the reliable stimulant.
Let's be honest.
When your spouse gets
jealous, it's flattering.
The blood stirs,
the heart pounds.
We'd quarrel..
...and we'd have sex.
Or as Diana would say
provocatively
we'd fuck.
And it works.
The guy you were coming
onto all afternoon.
Until it doesn't.
Obviously, I wasn't
coming on to him --
oh, yeah, obviously.
Well, Diana,
anyone within 10 feet
could see what was going on.
Well, who was watching?
It was a conversation.
I witnessed
the whole thing, Diana.
You were practically
issuing him an invitation.
Only in your peculiar
imagination, Wakefield.
Meanwhile,
you'll chat up any woman
who even looks at you
and I'm the one who --
no, no, no. You made
a very suggestive remark.
I made an amusing remark.
Oh, amusing? Ah!
Everyone laughed but you.
Well, I failed
to be entertained
by watching my wife
come onto a guy
in a Polo shirt.
I was replying
to something he said.
Something stupid
if you must know..
God!
I am so sick of this --
this constant surveillance.
- You --
- whoa, whoa, whoa --
no, you have muzzled me
to the point where I can't
carry on a conversation
with other parents.
I barely relate
to people anymore --
- you were relating to him.
- What do you not see?
I mean, do you think
I'd be even remotely
inclined to start
something up
with anyone given
the relationship we have?
All I want..
...is to get through the day.
That's what I think about.
Just get through the day.
Unbelievable.
Why go in there now?
Just to endure another
predictable scene
with my wife.
Soon enough,
they'd all be asleep.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
Shit! Ah!
Oh, god.
Oh!
You know, frankly
I was totally bewildered
by this situation
I had created for myself.
Diana would probably think
I'd been with someone else.
Not that I had ever
given her a reason
to doubt me
in 15 years of marriage.
Oh, my god.
It would be
the weakest of tactics
for me to walk into my house
and try to explain to her
the perfectly
rational sequence
that led me to spend
the night in the garage.
You know,
another woman might have
saved my supper plate
in the refrigerator.
But I lived
in Diana's judgment.
It shone on me
as in a prison cell
where the light
is never turned off.
The immediate solution?
Postpone my entrance 'til
my wife had gone off to work.
Mm.
Rush, rush, rush.
The bus is here, girls.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
They forgot their lunches.
Girls, girls, lunch.
They're gonna be late again.
Bye-bye, girls.
Have a good day.
Okay, love you.
Oh, yeah.
The first call
would be to my office.
No, he hasn't come in.
No.
Yesterday evening.
Well, no,
he didn't say anything.
Mm-hmm. Well, he left around
the usual time.
Oh, yes, of course, I will.
Bye-bye.
Oh, where are you going now?
Surprise, car's still there.
The plot thickens.
After a few calls
to her friends
wouldn't it seem reasonable
to expect
that the assistant curator
of the county museum
would depart for work?
I realize this is
a common enough complaint.
But there are times when I
feel I've spent my life
just waiting for my wife
to get ready
to leave the house.
Oh, you got to be
fuckin' kidding me.
Oh.
What the hell?
Wait a minute, wait a minute
wait a minute.
Ah-ha!
Yeah.
Ah-ha.
Yes, officer.
No checks were missing.
Why, why! Where could he be?
Ah. Oh.
There's the hubs.
No wonder you want him back.
He's a stud.
Our town police
are well-paid and polite
and not so different
from the rest of us
in their distant relationship
to actual crime.
Nobody mugged him
or anything.
What? What am I,
a travel agent?
I guarantee
he's at the strip club
right now hangin' around.
Dickhead.
Uh-oh.
Here come the water works.
Shit.
But then god help us.
The widow, babs.
Right on cue.
Christ.
Oh, god.
Do you ever shut up?
No, no, no, no.
Don't cry, don't cry.
No. He's not worth it.
There you go.
I have big broad
shoulders, darling.
And if you need to cry,
you just lay your head
right here.
Broad shoulders.
Like a fuckin' linebacker.
I'll be here for you.
But, darling,
now is the time
that you need
to protect yourself.
You do.
Financially, I mean.
He could wipe you out.
Oh, no, no, no.
Mommy, the bank accounts
are secured.
Look.
Look, look, look.
You see?
If Howard was
going to leave me
wouldn't he have cleared out
all the accounts?
But he didn't.
Well, just give him time.
He will.
You bitch.
Oh, god, I wish I had
a high-powered rifle
right now.
One shot.
That woman could be up here
for two days.
At this juncture,
it seems fair to point out
if your spouse
had seemingly vanished
would you go off
to work as usual?
Are daily matters
so very goddamn urgent
at the local county museum?
Or was that desperate call
to the police a tactic
calculated to embarrass me?
Leave it to Mrs. Wakefield
to turn a rather
amusing sidestep
into prima facie evidence
of Howard's
thoughtless behavior.
I was naive
and condescending
to her mother.
I lacked interest
in her work.
Or I wasted perfectly
beautiful full weekends
watching football games.
And if she was
such a feminist
why did my opening
a door for her
or helping her on
with her coat
matter so goddamn much?
Standing there
in the clear light of day..
I could see.
Diana felt that she
had married the wrong man.
Oh.
I ask you
what is so sacrosanct about
a marriage and a family
that you should have to live
in it day after day
however unrealized
that life may be?
Who hasn't had the impulse
to just put their life
on hold for a moment?
I ask you.
Mm.
Oh, my god, that looks good.
What are you two
doing laughing?
Assholes.
Unh-unh-unh.
Here's the conspiracy.
It's all a little too
convenient, don't you think?
Oh, yes, I agree.
I think she's totally guilty.
She murdered him.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Ben Jacobson, attorney at law
just stoppin' by
for a little deli.
Hello, Ben.
You're not fooling anybody.
I say, without shame
I'd given not
a single thought
to anyone at work.
And the documents
I carried away with me.
Documents, vital
to a very lucrative case
we'd been preparing.
All of that
was pretty remote now.
Well..
...I've got my own
little deli going here.
Oh, my god.
Here I am.
Ta-dah!
Oh, right.
Make her the victim.
Oh, please.
They've hardly been abandoned.
People, I'm right here.
Oh, I see.
Here it is.
Making your play, huh, Ben?
Go on, go on, go on. Go, on.
She's hurting.
Give her your hanky,
be a gentleman.
Oh, my god.
He..
He took out his phone.
What an ass.
A husband doesn't just vanish,
Mrs. Wakefield.
Howard Wakefield
is on this earth.
Or under it.
And only you, madam,
know which it is.
Are you accusing me
of making a game of this?
I assure you my frame of mind
was quite rational.
May I remind you
I was eating actual garbage
to survive?
Oh.
Come on back.
Come on, honey, come back,
come back.
Come back,
come back, come back.
There you are.
About my wife's
deliberate nudity.
Apparently
it's a side effect of her
having once been
a modern dancer.
Briefly.
I feel compelled to add.
Who exactly are you trying
to attract out there?
No one can see me
and if they can, I don't care.
Uh, clearly.
Strutting around this house
on full display.
Would it kill you
to put some clothes on
in front of our girls?
No, I'm not gonna
teach our daughters
to have shame
about having a body.
What if I started
parading naked
around them, huh?
What'd you think about that?
Hey, look at me!
Whoo, daddy's naked!
Mr. prude-o in the nude-o.
Hey, look at me,
I'm going to work naked!
Right, right, right.
Jesus.
Would you get away from there?
There's no one there, Howard.
Oh.
Seeing my wife in the nude,
oddly enough
usually got me
thinking about money.
I've only a slender amount
of cash with me.
And if it's my intention
to vanish completely
using a credit card
is out of the question.
I could pre-date a bank check
and cash it somewhere, yes.
But that might signal
to Diana
that my disappearance
was pre-meditated.
Which, I don't know,
seems unnecessarily cool.
It's not difficult
to run away.
People ditch their families
all the time.
But if this were
a simple abandonment of wife
and children, I'd have
written Diana a note
taken my car out
of the garage
driven to Manhattan,
checked into a hotel
and walked to work
in the morning.
Easy. Anyone can do that.
But you'd still be
the same person.
This is different.
You see..
...i no longer seem
to require those things
that only days ago
were so indispensable.
The armor of a clean shirt
the smooth shave
credit cards, cellphones
clients.
There will be no more
getting on that train.
I'll take nothing more
from her.
Nothing from that house.
Ever.
I'll sustain myself
like a castaway.
A survivor.
Undetected.
Unshackled.
I'll become
the Howard Wakefield
I was meant to be.
Oh, please.
You've imagined doing this
yourself. I know you have.
But what about
the twins you ask?
No regrets there.
In their current phase
our girls generally
think of me
as some kind
of unfortunate oddity
who embarrasses them
in front of their friends.
Believe me
I'm seeing more
of these two now
than I have in months,
if not years.
And I'm sure
it's not lost on you.
Though I might have
left my wife
I'll still be able
to keep an eye on her.
Ah.
There we go.
Did I ever miss
the conveniences of home?
Oh!
Yeah.
No TV..
...no problem.
Our neighbor, Dr. sondervan,
is a known authority
on down syndrome and other
developmental disorders.
When he began
to board some patients
a few months at a time,
I stood up for sondervan
when our neighbors
petitioned against him.
Shit!
God.
My spirited defense
of Dr. sondervan
and his young charges
for once gave me
the moral high ground
with Diana
who naturally
took the opposing view.
Howard, really?
Do we have any idea what
goes on behind those gates?
And the apparent answer
to your wife is
not too goddam much.
Morning's a little
social interaction.
Evenings conclude
with a hot shower.
And who can argue with that?
There you are.
Oh. That's so easy, isn't it?
In every marriage,
there's a division of labor.
Mine and yours.
By Diana's artful calibration
her tasks occur
only inside the house.
Children, cleaning,
provisioning.
Oh, which means shopping.
Lots of shopping.
But anything external,
the roof
the gutters,
the chimney, trash
you know, servicing the cars,
that's all left to me.
Her duties end at the door.
And of course,
any labor accomplished
outside the house
is invisible to my wife.
Paying the bills, invisible.
Property taxes,
life insurance
home insurance
and of course, our mortgage.
All faithfully and invisibly
taken care of
by one Howard Wakefield.
Now quite possibly deceased.
Celebration.
One, two, three, four, five.
Party?
P-a-r-t-y.
Yeah.
Tsk. Monday.
Who the hell is this?
Oh, my god. Ben Jacobs.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, uh-huh.
You dog.
Coffee? Cookies? Come on in.
Oh, he's gonna need
some whitener
for his coffee, Diana.
Uh, excuse me, you don't
have any soy milk, do you?
Of course, she's got soy milk.
She's got everything.
Please, Ben,
please tell her
about your tragic
lactose intolerance.
All the bloating
and flatulence.
Ah-ha!
Little pro-bono work
on behalf of the firm.
How nice of you.
I'm impressed.
You know,
I never used to sing.
I think that's worth noting.
If I sign this..
...it's declaring
my husband absentee.
What if I don't sign?
Would it make him
any less absent?
You've got to be kidding me.
Right away with the..
Come on, honey.
Show him the door. Show it.
Yes, yes.
Oh, Ben, you're such a douche.
She is totally
out of your league.
Attagirl!
That's for you, dickhead.
Yeah.
Absentee or no,
it's a victory, I guess
to know I've still got
possession of my wife.
Which reminds me,
I believe you're aware
that Diana was something
of a dancer.
By the time we met,
of course
Diana's brief flirtation
with the stage
had been replaced
by the occasional
evening bar class.
While she pursued a graduate
degree in art history
and complicated her life
in the usual ways.
Did I tell you she was
involved with someone else
when she started seeing me?
Dirk, dirk morrison.
Without touchin' the dime
or the bottle
and usin' only one finger,
get the dime into the bottle.
We met in the city
through an alumni mix
and hit it off.
A few years later,
my firm did some work
for his
capital investment firm.
I thought you were smart.
I guess he'd say
we were friends.
- Where's the $5?
- Well done.
I didn't bet you $5 on that.
There was nothing
dirk couldn't turn
into a competition.
Fuck, yeah!
- What else you got?
- I can't hear ya.
Thank you very much.
And I'm not defending
my own actions
but dirk's competitiveness
brought out a certain
quality in me.
So before your very eyes..
...I'm gonna make this widget
leave this bottle
without touching the bottle
or the widget in any way.
Should we stand back?
- Whoa!
- Oh, ow!
Oh, shit.
I had never had a thing
for dancers myself
but somehow dirk's
intense interest in Diana
gave me ideas of my own.
- Hi.
- Oh, hi.
- Diana.
- Oh, yes, of course. Hi.
- Hi.
- How are you?
At first, she wouldn't
go out with me.
I'm seeing
a good friend of yours.
Dirk morrison.
I'm -- I'm dating dirk.
The thing to remember is
I'm a litigator
by profession.
I have a talent
for persuasion.
Not that she ran to dirk
with the news.
I had just been made
a senior partner
at the firm.
Dirk was grinding away
at wall street.
So busy people, right?
It took a while
for dirk to find out.
Howard, you are jokin'
right now?
No, no, she..
She wanted to get out
and I thought great.
So we went for a bike ride
in central park.
It was nice.
Little lunch
at the -- at the boat house.
- That is total bullshit.
- Here. Here's your light beer.
Cheers.
I mean, let's be serious,
it's not as if
anything is happening
with you.
That's bollocks.
Howard, we have a thing.
We -- we have
an understanding.
- An understanding?
- Yeah.
Dirk, I mean,
you're not even fucking her.
Last week, you told me
not to rouse her.
- That means.. Jesus.
- Yes.
A woman like Diana
cannot be pushed.
You need to gain her trust.
Wait, did you -- did you
tell Diana
that I gave you permission
to ask her out?
- What?
- Just tell me.
Jesus.
No.
Come on, dirk.
She was just not happy.
She didn't wanna tell you
what really happened.
She's protecting you.
Honest.
I lied, of course.
Diana was torn between us.
The drama went on for,
god, for weeks at least.
It's okay.
Why she'd never gone to bed
with dirk
was I had made my move early
on in time to hit it off.
But in those early weeks
she wasn't
sleeping with me either.
It's okay.
Till I made a genius
and I mean
genius strategic move.
I mean,
whatever she's telling you
she is certainly
not asking me to back up.
I don't know.
What she says is that
she really cares about me.
What?
That is Diana
the queen
of mixed signals, huh?
Hey, maybe she's playing
us both.
You know, in bed last night
she started talking about
moving in with me
and I went seriously?
I'm thinking,
i really like you
but aren't we moving
a little too fast with this?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
She -- she's not..
She's -- she's not
sleeping with you?
Yeah, of course.
What? She didn't say
anything to you?
Oh, my god.
Diana.
Genius, right?
I knew dirk would do
something stupid.
Wait, wait, no. Stop.
Stop it.
Within hours,
it had all played out.
Hey, how are you?
- Oh.
- How is it? Is it bad?
- Oh.
- Yeah, I know.
I'm so sorry.
Ooh.
- No, no, no.
- I'm sorry.
That feels better.
Just leave it there a second.
I have never seen
this side of him before.
This violence.
Ah, I'm not so surprised.
I've known this guy
a long time.
Has the swelling gone down?
- No.
- Oh.
Oh, poor baby.
Hmm. That's better.
That's even more better.
And thank you, dirk morrison.
Would I have wanted her
if she weren't
my best friend's girl?
Was I just jacked up
by the competition?
Yeah, well..
...it did occur to me
about a year
into the marriage.
But by then,
your wife is pregnant.
She's carrying your child.
And god, I don't know.
She was just so beautiful.
All over again.
It makes you go
a little crazy and stuff.
Oh, that gorgeous
round belly.
It awakens this
whole other level of..
...well, fear, I guess.
You wanna capture
her somehow.
You see,
this is how they get you.
They maneuver things
to that point
where you feel like
everything in your life
is suddenly precious.
And -- and simultaneously,
totally precarious.
It just slams you.
The realization
that everything
with any meaning,
anything you love
could just be taken away
in some random event.
Anything could happen, right?
Anything.
If I had left her
in the conventional sense
if I had divorced her
no one would blame my wife
if she began entertaining
hoards of men.
But by simply vanishing,
I placed Diana
in a, let's say,
a distant category.
Till it's known
what's become of her husband
Mrs. Wakefield remains
not quite available.
A power move.
Am I intentionally
frustrating her?
Not at all, my love.
I'm sure
you have vivid memories
of what you're missing.
I know I do.
I just want you to want me
as much as I want you.
When people are leaving
for summer vacation
they put out more trash.
Cleaning up the fridge
never fails.
Ah, the tell-tale signs.
There's always ice cream.
Every two weeks,
residents here
put out the good stuff.
Whatever
isn't strictly garbage.
By 2:00 A.M.,
anything usable is gone.
Gleaners.
Russians from the south end
of town.
Bottom feeders.
I'm not being a baby.
I'm just not going up there.
- Yes, you are.
- Duh.
I'm saying you have to.
Well, you know what,
i don't have to listen to you.
Yes, you do.
No, come on.
Mommy said you have to.
I need your help.
No way, there's spiders up
there. Can you just --
- I don't have on shoes.
- Neither do I.
I'm gonna get splinters.
And I won't?
Do you see..
- Okay, we'll both go.
- Okay.
No!
I blame myself
for getting lulled
into the domestic routine.
Day after day,
so much is the same.
Diana, neighbors..
...tradesmen.
Week after week.
And one day,
routine goes to hell.
Exhibit a.
Diana couldn't be
taking the girls
on our usual summer trip
to the cape.
How could she possibly
afford it this year?
Diana had very little
coming in these days.
Would she really
damage our savings
just to loll around
on the beach
in her very small bikini?
God, the three of them.
I'm trying to track
the exact moment
those three became
the opposing team.
How do you do?
How was, uh, how was school?
Okay. Right.
The many times I've listened
under the windows
of this house,
have I heard my name
spoken even once?
So, why am I still concerned
about their
financial situation?
I'm the one
who's impoverished,
goddammit.
Scrounging every meal.
It's hot as blazes
in this attic.
It's glaringly obvious
that my wife herself
will come up here tonight
to carry away those
essential vacation items
that Howard Wakefield,
devoted husband
had so obediently opened
his wallet to provide.
A prisoner.
That's what
I've made of myself.
A fuckwit prisoner
of all time.
Here we go.
Ugh.
Ah!
Oh! Ugh, ugh!
Oh!
Son of a bitch!
Oh!
Ah!
Look, oh, dear.
It's a shame.
She isn't back. She's getting
stuff into the car.
How many bags? Hold up.
I got the chairs.
Sweetheart.
I'm coming, I'm coming.
I brought us
a go cup of coffee.
Is it just me
or is it oddly relaxing
when the wife
goes out of town?
You know, maybe it's summer
but I find I'm becoming lax
about keeping up with events.
Look at you.
Uh..
"Luckiest guy on wall street?"
Goddamn right he is.
Divorced.
Loser.
What's amazing is that
old dirk and I
ended up in the same line
of work.
Dirk morrison, junk man.
Scavenging
the remnants of what?
Pizza chains
and supermarkets?
Buying, raiding, flipping.
Exhausting.
Mm.
Take the money to him.
There you go.
Good job, sweetheart.
Do I ever worry that someone
might recognize me
on one of these
expeditions to town?
Diana.
Coming home early
from the cape.
She could show up
any moment.
Oh, believe me,
I can knock out
countless variations.
It's endlessly entertaining.
You do realize,
I hope, that none of this
is a rejection of my wife
or -- or suburban life
or any of that.
You see, I never
left my family.
I left myself.
I stepped into the wild.
Into that primal arena,
a beach vacation in Cape Cod
only pretends to supply.
But in the primal world,
there's one law.
Oh!
We are food to one another..
...or we are not.
That's it. End of story.
You know how in late summer
there's always
that first night of Autumn.
That familiar chill.
Normally, I welcome
the change of seasons.
But this time, well
I no longer
have a pair of shoes.
No, no, no, mine. Mine, hey!
Hey, hey, no, no, no!
Mine. Mine!
No. No.
- Nyet!
- Go!
Nyet! Nyet!
Come, come on.
Mm.
Herbert.
Herbert.
Emily.
Hm.
Emily and Herbert.
Howard.
Howard.
Howard.
Shoes.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, okay.
Listen.
Emily, Herbert..
...it's very important
that you don't tell anyone
that you saw me.
You understand?
Shh, shh, yes, yes.
It's a secret.
Bye.
Suppose they do
tell someone,
those two next door.
I should leave.
Diana will be
coming back soon.
My daughters
coming up the stairs
to put
their vacation gear away.
I should go sleep
in the woods.
Mm.
Those are toe shoes
for ballet.
You know, ballet?
Mm-hm.
Yeah, that's you. Look here.
You know who that is?
- Mm?
- Who is that?
Yeah.
Yes. That's Emily.
- Emily?
- Emily.
Yeah.
Oh, you know what that is?
That is a bicycle pump.
You use that to put air in
your -- in your bicycle tires.
Here, let me -- let me
show you.
You see, uh, there we go, see.
You take this part..
Have I mentioned
the loneliness?
Just like.. Feel the air?
Feel this?
Whoo! Hoo-hoo! I give up.
Let's get Emily. Come on.
Oh. Now this
is a very important
piece of equipment.
You have a hole..
When you are alone
for so long
you forget the simple
human exchange.
Snap that into place. Voila.
Listen, Herbert, Emily.
Don't come back here again
or I'll have to leave.
Okay? Do you understand?
It's our secret. Remember?
Yes. Yes.
Good, Herbert. Our secret.
Remember, Emily?
Don't tell anyone.
And I mean it.
Don't come back.
Yeah.
They'll never be able
to keep their end of it.
The sensible thing would be
to abandon this place.
Ah.
No question. I'd have
completely stranded myself.
She's taking
dance class again.
That's good.
She seems a little
tired tonight.
Well..
The kids are
running her ragged.
They're looking
more like Diana these days,
don't you think?
Hey, check this out.
I like her wearing her hair
long like that.
- Have a safe drive. Bye.
- Bye.
Uh, Taylor, gelly, I think,
um, these ninja's might
belong to you.
- Oh, hey.
- Hey.
Boys.
When did that happen?
What do you say when you knock
on the door on Halloween?
Good morning.
Good morning?
You don't say good morning.
- Trick or treat!
- Trick or treat!
There's no point denying it.
They're much happier
without me.
She's buying the cheaper
cuts of meat.
Saving her pennies.
Suppose she has to sell
the house?
How far am I willing
to let this go?
Then again,
it could end at any moment.
I could be exposed.
Christ, if I did go back
I mean, how would I begin?
How does a man
in my situation
explain himself to his wife?
She'll think
I vacated my senses.
If anything, I've come
into my senses fully.
My god, I can see it
so clearly.
I've constructed
the whole thing.
The jealousy
the resentment..
...the selfish urgency.
Howard is victim.
Howard is persecutor.
There's no one there,
Howard.
Howard has mastered
the world.
That was my prison.
That's what I've escaped.
Leaving me where now?
An outcast of cosmos.
I'll tell you this.
You can think
whatever you like.
I love my wife now as I've
never loved her before.
So I'm guessing
Thanksgiving dinner
will be at babs' house
this year.
And you know what
that means.
Zilch-o for me
in the leftovers department.
Who am I kidding?
A family of ten
could eat for weeks
off what my neighbors
throw out.
This stuff will
keep forever.
The whole attic's
like a goddamn refrigerator.
Unfortunately,
Howard Wakefield had
ignored some basic repairs.
What about
when it starts snowing?
Diana will think
she has a prowler.
Stupid. They're not home.
Go inside where it's warm.
The first catch
of the game..
He's going for another
first down.
And with our
black Friday sales
going on
throughout the entire weekend
you can find savings
for the entire family.
Ssh. Shh, shh.
Want some wine?
Here.
Just a little --
just a little sip.
Here.
"The quality of mercy
is not strained.
"It droppeth
as the gentle rain
from heaven
upon the place beneath."
Your whole life
you hear that quoted.
I never got it till now.
Mercy is not something
you ever get to request.
Not strained
means not forced.
It's given freely.
Thank you, Herbert.
Thank you, Emily.
No reason.
Just a gift drops
from the sky.
Twice blessed.
Blessing him that gives
and him that takes
if I remember correctly.
Thank you.
The giving and the taking
all in one.
Okay.
Thank you so much, Caleb.
We'll see you in June? July?
June? Okay.
Okay.
Supposed she had
recognized us.
You could have lost her
right there, pal.
Unthinkable.
I mean, the shock of it.
To look into Diana's eyes.
Her eyes that I've seen into
countless, countless times
to look and to see nothing.
I had no idea how one-sided
this relationship
had become.
Where should I dump
daddy's clothes?
Put everything in the car.
Good god.
They're emptying my closet.
I'll be right back.
Just put the oven on,
would you, please? 350.
- Alright.
- Close the door.
Am I a coward, afraid
of facing her rejection?
Or am I just resolved
to see this thing through?
And by this thing
what the hell do I even mean?
Gone is the provider
the family man, the litigator
the husband.
All that remains
is the lover.
Enduring, passionate.
I love her
because she belongs to me.
And I love her
because she doesn't.
And I know
if I come in from exile
there's every chance
I'll lose her.
On the other hand
I know this look she has
from deep memory.
My wife, infatuated..
...eager to please..
...trusting that every word
is true.
Why wouldn't she seek
a little tenderness?
I'm not saying
I welcome this.
I'm saying I understand.
Mom, can you get scissors?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, hang on.
Just leave the tree
by the steps, okay?
Okay.
Company for dinner?
Who can it be?
Um..
Ah! A-ha!
A city feller, eh?
He's tall.
Not much to conclude
from that.
My, my.
Coffee and dessert
in the living room.
This is a special evening.
Oh, my god.
Dirk morrison.
Son of bitch.
Then again,
who else would it be?
The unfinished business.
They've compared stories
revived the past.
Jesus.
He's told her
everything by now.
At last, the great fraud
has been exposed.
You do understand
that this was the music
of our courtship.
If he's the one
you think you want, my love..
...it seems only fair
to give you the choice
this time.
Forgive me
if I don't stand and watch..
...as another man lays claim
to your affections.
What happened to the burberry
coat that -- that was here?
It was sold yesterday.
Sorry.
- There.
- Thank you.
It seems remarkable
that I still know
how to drive.
Strange to be subject
to rules again.
You forget god awfulness.
Buildings stacked up
like that.
People in endless
replication.
It's impossible to imagine
I worked here once.
That I could
ever work here again.
One thing at a time, Howard.
Construct it.
First the thrift store,
then the haircut.
And now I can pass
through this door.
First that and now this.
Karaoke.
- Daddy!
- Daddy!
I'm home.
Just this.
Four.
Thank you.
Furthermore
this indemnification clause
clearly states that there
will be no injunctive relief.
And our client's chances
of being rewarded
financially are minimal
at best.
I'll finish it tomorrow.
Can I be blamed for feeling
that things were a little
strange that night?
You don't expect
a power outage
in the spring.
Not without a storm first.
When you're tired
and it's a long day
and you're trying
to get home
you tend to feel all these
little disconnects
as the slow trajectory
of a collapsing civilization.
At least that's where I go.
"In the suburbs,
we live in nature."
That's a quote
from my realtor
the selling phrase she used
when Diana and I
first looked at this place.
Oh, crap.
And you do see
deer, rabbits, crows.
But we don't live in nature.
That's the point
of the suburbs.
You live apart from humans.
And you're protected
from what's wild.
Jesus.
Go on, get out of here.
Go on!
Go on, get out!
Oh, damn it.
Oh, Christ.
Oh, god. Damn it.
Damn it.
Alright.
Ha! Ha! Go on.
I had quarreled with my wife.
We did this thing
where we would play
at sexual jealousy.
But anyway, um..
Or I played at it
and she was my accomplice.
After 15 years of marriage
jealousy was
the reliable stimulant.
Let's be honest.
When your spouse gets
jealous, it's flattering.
The blood stirs,
the heart pounds.
We'd quarrel..
...and we'd have sex.
Or as Diana would say
provocatively
we'd fuck.
And it works.
The guy you were coming
onto all afternoon.
Until it doesn't.
Obviously, I wasn't
coming on to him --
oh, yeah, obviously.
Well, Diana,
anyone within 10 feet
could see what was going on.
Well, who was watching?
It was a conversation.
I witnessed
the whole thing, Diana.
You were practically
issuing him an invitation.
Only in your peculiar
imagination, Wakefield.
Meanwhile,
you'll chat up any woman
who even looks at you
and I'm the one who --
no, no, no. You made
a very suggestive remark.
I made an amusing remark.
Oh, amusing? Ah!
Everyone laughed but you.
Well, I failed
to be entertained
by watching my wife
come onto a guy
in a Polo shirt.
I was replying
to something he said.
Something stupid
if you must know..
God!
I am so sick of this --
this constant surveillance.
- You --
- whoa, whoa, whoa --
no, you have muzzled me
to the point where I can't
carry on a conversation
with other parents.
I barely relate
to people anymore --
- you were relating to him.
- What do you not see?
I mean, do you think
I'd be even remotely
inclined to start
something up
with anyone given
the relationship we have?
All I want..
...is to get through the day.
That's what I think about.
Just get through the day.
Unbelievable.
Why go in there now?
Just to endure another
predictable scene
with my wife.
Soon enough,
they'd all be asleep.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
Shit! Ah!
Oh, god.
Oh!
You know, frankly
I was totally bewildered
by this situation
I had created for myself.
Diana would probably think
I'd been with someone else.
Not that I had ever
given her a reason
to doubt me
in 15 years of marriage.
Oh, my god.
It would be
the weakest of tactics
for me to walk into my house
and try to explain to her
the perfectly
rational sequence
that led me to spend
the night in the garage.
You know,
another woman might have
saved my supper plate
in the refrigerator.
But I lived
in Diana's judgment.
It shone on me
as in a prison cell
where the light
is never turned off.
The immediate solution?
Postpone my entrance 'til
my wife had gone off to work.
Mm.
Rush, rush, rush.
The bus is here, girls.
Hey, hey, hey, hey.
They forgot their lunches.
Girls, girls, lunch.
They're gonna be late again.
Bye-bye, girls.
Have a good day.
Okay, love you.
Oh, yeah.
The first call
would be to my office.
No, he hasn't come in.
No.
Yesterday evening.
Well, no,
he didn't say anything.
Mm-hmm. Well, he left around
the usual time.
Oh, yes, of course, I will.
Bye-bye.
Oh, where are you going now?
Surprise, car's still there.
The plot thickens.
After a few calls
to her friends
wouldn't it seem reasonable
to expect
that the assistant curator
of the county museum
would depart for work?
I realize this is
a common enough complaint.
But there are times when I
feel I've spent my life
just waiting for my wife
to get ready
to leave the house.
Oh, you got to be
fuckin' kidding me.
Oh.
What the hell?
Wait a minute, wait a minute
wait a minute.
Ah-ha!
Yeah.
Ah-ha.
Yes, officer.
No checks were missing.
Why, why! Where could he be?
Ah. Oh.
There's the hubs.
No wonder you want him back.
He's a stud.
Our town police
are well-paid and polite
and not so different
from the rest of us
in their distant relationship
to actual crime.
Nobody mugged him
or anything.
What? What am I,
a travel agent?
I guarantee
he's at the strip club
right now hangin' around.
Dickhead.
Uh-oh.
Here come the water works.
Shit.
But then god help us.
The widow, babs.
Right on cue.
Christ.
Oh, god.
Do you ever shut up?
No, no, no, no.
Don't cry, don't cry.
No. He's not worth it.
There you go.
I have big broad
shoulders, darling.
And if you need to cry,
you just lay your head
right here.
Broad shoulders.
Like a fuckin' linebacker.
I'll be here for you.
But, darling,
now is the time
that you need
to protect yourself.
You do.
Financially, I mean.
He could wipe you out.
Oh, no, no, no.
Mommy, the bank accounts
are secured.
Look.
Look, look, look.
You see?
If Howard was
going to leave me
wouldn't he have cleared out
all the accounts?
But he didn't.
Well, just give him time.
He will.
You bitch.
Oh, god, I wish I had
a high-powered rifle
right now.
One shot.
That woman could be up here
for two days.
At this juncture,
it seems fair to point out
if your spouse
had seemingly vanished
would you go off
to work as usual?
Are daily matters
so very goddamn urgent
at the local county museum?
Or was that desperate call
to the police a tactic
calculated to embarrass me?
Leave it to Mrs. Wakefield
to turn a rather
amusing sidestep
into prima facie evidence
of Howard's
thoughtless behavior.
I was naive
and condescending
to her mother.
I lacked interest
in her work.
Or I wasted perfectly
beautiful full weekends
watching football games.
And if she was
such a feminist
why did my opening
a door for her
or helping her on
with her coat
matter so goddamn much?
Standing there
in the clear light of day..
I could see.
Diana felt that she
had married the wrong man.
Oh.
I ask you
what is so sacrosanct about
a marriage and a family
that you should have to live
in it day after day
however unrealized
that life may be?
Who hasn't had the impulse
to just put their life
on hold for a moment?
I ask you.
Mm.
Oh, my god, that looks good.
What are you two
doing laughing?
Assholes.
Unh-unh-unh.
Here's the conspiracy.
It's all a little too
convenient, don't you think?
Oh, yes, I agree.
I think she's totally guilty.
She murdered him.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Ben Jacobson, attorney at law
just stoppin' by
for a little deli.
Hello, Ben.
You're not fooling anybody.
I say, without shame
I'd given not
a single thought
to anyone at work.
And the documents
I carried away with me.
Documents, vital
to a very lucrative case
we'd been preparing.
All of that
was pretty remote now.
Well..
...I've got my own
little deli going here.
Oh, my god.
Here I am.
Ta-dah!
Oh, right.
Make her the victim.
Oh, please.
They've hardly been abandoned.
People, I'm right here.
Oh, I see.
Here it is.
Making your play, huh, Ben?
Go on, go on, go on. Go, on.
She's hurting.
Give her your hanky,
be a gentleman.
Oh, my god.
He..
He took out his phone.
What an ass.
A husband doesn't just vanish,
Mrs. Wakefield.
Howard Wakefield
is on this earth.
Or under it.
And only you, madam,
know which it is.
Are you accusing me
of making a game of this?
I assure you my frame of mind
was quite rational.
May I remind you
I was eating actual garbage
to survive?
Oh.
Come on back.
Come on, honey, come back,
come back.
Come back,
come back, come back.
There you are.
About my wife's
deliberate nudity.
Apparently
it's a side effect of her
having once been
a modern dancer.
Briefly.
I feel compelled to add.
Who exactly are you trying
to attract out there?
No one can see me
and if they can, I don't care.
Uh, clearly.
Strutting around this house
on full display.
Would it kill you
to put some clothes on
in front of our girls?
No, I'm not gonna
teach our daughters
to have shame
about having a body.
What if I started
parading naked
around them, huh?
What'd you think about that?
Hey, look at me!
Whoo, daddy's naked!
Mr. prude-o in the nude-o.
Hey, look at me,
I'm going to work naked!
Right, right, right.
Jesus.
Would you get away from there?
There's no one there, Howard.
Oh.
Seeing my wife in the nude,
oddly enough
usually got me
thinking about money.
I've only a slender amount
of cash with me.
And if it's my intention
to vanish completely
using a credit card
is out of the question.
I could pre-date a bank check
and cash it somewhere, yes.
But that might signal
to Diana
that my disappearance
was pre-meditated.
Which, I don't know,
seems unnecessarily cool.
It's not difficult
to run away.
People ditch their families
all the time.
But if this were
a simple abandonment of wife
and children, I'd have
written Diana a note
taken my car out
of the garage
driven to Manhattan,
checked into a hotel
and walked to work
in the morning.
Easy. Anyone can do that.
But you'd still be
the same person.
This is different.
You see..
...i no longer seem
to require those things
that only days ago
were so indispensable.
The armor of a clean shirt
the smooth shave
credit cards, cellphones
clients.
There will be no more
getting on that train.
I'll take nothing more
from her.
Nothing from that house.
Ever.
I'll sustain myself
like a castaway.
A survivor.
Undetected.
Unshackled.
I'll become
the Howard Wakefield
I was meant to be.
Oh, please.
You've imagined doing this
yourself. I know you have.
But what about
the twins you ask?
No regrets there.
In their current phase
our girls generally
think of me
as some kind
of unfortunate oddity
who embarrasses them
in front of their friends.
Believe me
I'm seeing more
of these two now
than I have in months,
if not years.
And I'm sure
it's not lost on you.
Though I might have
left my wife
I'll still be able
to keep an eye on her.
Ah.
There we go.
Did I ever miss
the conveniences of home?
Oh!
Yeah.
No TV..
...no problem.
Our neighbor, Dr. sondervan,
is a known authority
on down syndrome and other
developmental disorders.
When he began
to board some patients
a few months at a time,
I stood up for sondervan
when our neighbors
petitioned against him.
Shit!
God.
My spirited defense
of Dr. sondervan
and his young charges
for once gave me
the moral high ground
with Diana
who naturally
took the opposing view.
Howard, really?
Do we have any idea what
goes on behind those gates?
And the apparent answer
to your wife is
not too goddam much.
Morning's a little
social interaction.
Evenings conclude
with a hot shower.
And who can argue with that?
There you are.
Oh. That's so easy, isn't it?
In every marriage,
there's a division of labor.
Mine and yours.
By Diana's artful calibration
her tasks occur
only inside the house.
Children, cleaning,
provisioning.
Oh, which means shopping.
Lots of shopping.
But anything external,
the roof
the gutters,
the chimney, trash
you know, servicing the cars,
that's all left to me.
Her duties end at the door.
And of course,
any labor accomplished
outside the house
is invisible to my wife.
Paying the bills, invisible.
Property taxes,
life insurance
home insurance
and of course, our mortgage.
All faithfully and invisibly
taken care of
by one Howard Wakefield.
Now quite possibly deceased.
Celebration.
One, two, three, four, five.
Party?
P-a-r-t-y.
Yeah.
Tsk. Monday.
Who the hell is this?
Oh, my god. Ben Jacobs.
Oh, yes, yes, yes, uh-huh.
You dog.
Coffee? Cookies? Come on in.
Oh, he's gonna need
some whitener
for his coffee, Diana.
Uh, excuse me, you don't
have any soy milk, do you?
Of course, she's got soy milk.
She's got everything.
Please, Ben,
please tell her
about your tragic
lactose intolerance.
All the bloating
and flatulence.
Ah-ha!
Little pro-bono work
on behalf of the firm.
How nice of you.
I'm impressed.
You know,
I never used to sing.
I think that's worth noting.
If I sign this..
...it's declaring
my husband absentee.
What if I don't sign?
Would it make him
any less absent?
You've got to be kidding me.
Right away with the..
Come on, honey.
Show him the door. Show it.
Yes, yes.
Oh, Ben, you're such a douche.
She is totally
out of your league.
Attagirl!
That's for you, dickhead.
Yeah.
Absentee or no,
it's a victory, I guess
to know I've still got
possession of my wife.
Which reminds me,
I believe you're aware
that Diana was something
of a dancer.
By the time we met,
of course
Diana's brief flirtation
with the stage
had been replaced
by the occasional
evening bar class.
While she pursued a graduate
degree in art history
and complicated her life
in the usual ways.
Did I tell you she was
involved with someone else
when she started seeing me?
Dirk, dirk morrison.
Without touchin' the dime
or the bottle
and usin' only one finger,
get the dime into the bottle.
We met in the city
through an alumni mix
and hit it off.
A few years later,
my firm did some work
for his
capital investment firm.
I thought you were smart.
I guess he'd say
we were friends.
- Where's the $5?
- Well done.
I didn't bet you $5 on that.
There was nothing
dirk couldn't turn
into a competition.
Fuck, yeah!
- What else you got?
- I can't hear ya.
Thank you very much.
And I'm not defending
my own actions
but dirk's competitiveness
brought out a certain
quality in me.
So before your very eyes..
...I'm gonna make this widget
leave this bottle
without touching the bottle
or the widget in any way.
Should we stand back?
- Whoa!
- Oh, ow!
Oh, shit.
I had never had a thing
for dancers myself
but somehow dirk's
intense interest in Diana
gave me ideas of my own.
- Hi.
- Oh, hi.
- Diana.
- Oh, yes, of course. Hi.
- Hi.
- How are you?
At first, she wouldn't
go out with me.
I'm seeing
a good friend of yours.
Dirk morrison.
I'm -- I'm dating dirk.
The thing to remember is
I'm a litigator
by profession.
I have a talent
for persuasion.
Not that she ran to dirk
with the news.
I had just been made
a senior partner
at the firm.
Dirk was grinding away
at wall street.
So busy people, right?
It took a while
for dirk to find out.
Howard, you are jokin'
right now?
No, no, she..
She wanted to get out
and I thought great.
So we went for a bike ride
in central park.
It was nice.
Little lunch
at the -- at the boat house.
- That is total bullshit.
- Here. Here's your light beer.
Cheers.
I mean, let's be serious,
it's not as if
anything is happening
with you.
That's bollocks.
Howard, we have a thing.
We -- we have
an understanding.
- An understanding?
- Yeah.
Dirk, I mean,
you're not even fucking her.
Last week, you told me
not to rouse her.
- That means.. Jesus.
- Yes.
A woman like Diana
cannot be pushed.
You need to gain her trust.
Wait, did you -- did you
tell Diana
that I gave you permission
to ask her out?
- What?
- Just tell me.
Jesus.
No.
Come on, dirk.
She was just not happy.
She didn't wanna tell you
what really happened.
She's protecting you.
Honest.
I lied, of course.
Diana was torn between us.
The drama went on for,
god, for weeks at least.
It's okay.
Why she'd never gone to bed
with dirk
was I had made my move early
on in time to hit it off.
But in those early weeks
she wasn't
sleeping with me either.
It's okay.
Till I made a genius
and I mean
genius strategic move.
I mean,
whatever she's telling you
she is certainly
not asking me to back up.
I don't know.
What she says is that
she really cares about me.
What?
That is Diana
the queen
of mixed signals, huh?
Hey, maybe she's playing
us both.
You know, in bed last night
she started talking about
moving in with me
and I went seriously?
I'm thinking,
i really like you
but aren't we moving
a little too fast with this?
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
She -- she's not..
She's -- she's not
sleeping with you?
Yeah, of course.
What? She didn't say
anything to you?
Oh, my god.
Diana.
Genius, right?
I knew dirk would do
something stupid.
Wait, wait, no. Stop.
Stop it.
Within hours,
it had all played out.
Hey, how are you?
- Oh.
- How is it? Is it bad?
- Oh.
- Yeah, I know.
I'm so sorry.
Ooh.
- No, no, no.
- I'm sorry.
That feels better.
Just leave it there a second.
I have never seen
this side of him before.
This violence.
Ah, I'm not so surprised.
I've known this guy
a long time.
Has the swelling gone down?
- No.
- Oh.
Oh, poor baby.
Hmm. That's better.
That's even more better.
And thank you, dirk morrison.
Would I have wanted her
if she weren't
my best friend's girl?
Was I just jacked up
by the competition?
Yeah, well..
...it did occur to me
about a year
into the marriage.
But by then,
your wife is pregnant.
She's carrying your child.
And god, I don't know.
She was just so beautiful.
All over again.
It makes you go
a little crazy and stuff.
Oh, that gorgeous
round belly.
It awakens this
whole other level of..
...well, fear, I guess.
You wanna capture
her somehow.
You see,
this is how they get you.
They maneuver things
to that point
where you feel like
everything in your life
is suddenly precious.
And -- and simultaneously,
totally precarious.
It just slams you.
The realization
that everything
with any meaning,
anything you love
could just be taken away
in some random event.
Anything could happen, right?
Anything.
If I had left her
in the conventional sense
if I had divorced her
no one would blame my wife
if she began entertaining
hoards of men.
But by simply vanishing,
I placed Diana
in a, let's say,
a distant category.
Till it's known
what's become of her husband
Mrs. Wakefield remains
not quite available.
A power move.
Am I intentionally
frustrating her?
Not at all, my love.
I'm sure
you have vivid memories
of what you're missing.
I know I do.
I just want you to want me
as much as I want you.
When people are leaving
for summer vacation
they put out more trash.
Cleaning up the fridge
never fails.
Ah, the tell-tale signs.
There's always ice cream.
Every two weeks,
residents here
put out the good stuff.
Whatever
isn't strictly garbage.
By 2:00 A.M.,
anything usable is gone.
Gleaners.
Russians from the south end
of town.
Bottom feeders.
I'm not being a baby.
I'm just not going up there.
- Yes, you are.
- Duh.
I'm saying you have to.
Well, you know what,
i don't have to listen to you.
Yes, you do.
No, come on.
Mommy said you have to.
I need your help.
No way, there's spiders up
there. Can you just --
- I don't have on shoes.
- Neither do I.
I'm gonna get splinters.
And I won't?
Do you see..
- Okay, we'll both go.
- Okay.
No!
I blame myself
for getting lulled
into the domestic routine.
Day after day,
so much is the same.
Diana, neighbors..
...tradesmen.
Week after week.
And one day,
routine goes to hell.
Exhibit a.
Diana couldn't be
taking the girls
on our usual summer trip
to the cape.
How could she possibly
afford it this year?
Diana had very little
coming in these days.
Would she really
damage our savings
just to loll around
on the beach
in her very small bikini?
God, the three of them.
I'm trying to track
the exact moment
those three became
the opposing team.
How do you do?
How was, uh, how was school?
Okay. Right.
The many times I've listened
under the windows
of this house,
have I heard my name
spoken even once?
So, why am I still concerned
about their
financial situation?
I'm the one
who's impoverished,
goddammit.
Scrounging every meal.
It's hot as blazes
in this attic.
It's glaringly obvious
that my wife herself
will come up here tonight
to carry away those
essential vacation items
that Howard Wakefield,
devoted husband
had so obediently opened
his wallet to provide.
A prisoner.
That's what
I've made of myself.
A fuckwit prisoner
of all time.
Here we go.
Ugh.
Ah!
Oh! Ugh, ugh!
Oh!
Son of a bitch!
Oh!
Ah!
Look, oh, dear.
It's a shame.
She isn't back. She's getting
stuff into the car.
How many bags? Hold up.
I got the chairs.
Sweetheart.
I'm coming, I'm coming.
I brought us
a go cup of coffee.
Is it just me
or is it oddly relaxing
when the wife
goes out of town?
You know, maybe it's summer
but I find I'm becoming lax
about keeping up with events.
Look at you.
Uh..
"Luckiest guy on wall street?"
Goddamn right he is.
Divorced.
Loser.
What's amazing is that
old dirk and I
ended up in the same line
of work.
Dirk morrison, junk man.
Scavenging
the remnants of what?
Pizza chains
and supermarkets?
Buying, raiding, flipping.
Exhausting.
Mm.
Take the money to him.
There you go.
Good job, sweetheart.
Do I ever worry that someone
might recognize me
on one of these
expeditions to town?
Diana.
Coming home early
from the cape.
She could show up
any moment.
Oh, believe me,
I can knock out
countless variations.
It's endlessly entertaining.
You do realize,
I hope, that none of this
is a rejection of my wife
or -- or suburban life
or any of that.
You see, I never
left my family.
I left myself.
I stepped into the wild.
Into that primal arena,
a beach vacation in Cape Cod
only pretends to supply.
But in the primal world,
there's one law.
Oh!
We are food to one another..
...or we are not.
That's it. End of story.
You know how in late summer
there's always
that first night of Autumn.
That familiar chill.
Normally, I welcome
the change of seasons.
But this time, well
I no longer
have a pair of shoes.
No, no, no, mine. Mine, hey!
Hey, hey, no, no, no!
Mine. Mine!
No. No.
- Nyet!
- Go!
Nyet! Nyet!
Come, come on.
Mm.
Herbert.
Herbert.
Emily.
Hm.
Emily and Herbert.
Howard.
Howard.
Howard.
Shoes.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, okay.
Listen.
Emily, Herbert..
...it's very important
that you don't tell anyone
that you saw me.
You understand?
Shh, shh, yes, yes.
It's a secret.
Bye.
Suppose they do
tell someone,
those two next door.
I should leave.
Diana will be
coming back soon.
My daughters
coming up the stairs
to put
their vacation gear away.
I should go sleep
in the woods.
Mm.
Those are toe shoes
for ballet.
You know, ballet?
Mm-hm.
Yeah, that's you. Look here.
You know who that is?
- Mm?
- Who is that?
Yeah.
Yes. That's Emily.
- Emily?
- Emily.
Yeah.
Oh, you know what that is?
That is a bicycle pump.
You use that to put air in
your -- in your bicycle tires.
Here, let me -- let me
show you.
You see, uh, there we go, see.
You take this part..
Have I mentioned
the loneliness?
Just like.. Feel the air?
Feel this?
Whoo! Hoo-hoo! I give up.
Let's get Emily. Come on.
Oh. Now this
is a very important
piece of equipment.
You have a hole..
When you are alone
for so long
you forget the simple
human exchange.
Snap that into place. Voila.
Listen, Herbert, Emily.
Don't come back here again
or I'll have to leave.
Okay? Do you understand?
It's our secret. Remember?
Yes. Yes.
Good, Herbert. Our secret.
Remember, Emily?
Don't tell anyone.
And I mean it.
Don't come back.
Yeah.
They'll never be able
to keep their end of it.
The sensible thing would be
to abandon this place.
Ah.
No question. I'd have
completely stranded myself.
She's taking
dance class again.
That's good.
She seems a little
tired tonight.
Well..
The kids are
running her ragged.
They're looking
more like Diana these days,
don't you think?
Hey, check this out.
I like her wearing her hair
long like that.
- Have a safe drive. Bye.
- Bye.
Uh, Taylor, gelly, I think,
um, these ninja's might
belong to you.
- Oh, hey.
- Hey.
Boys.
When did that happen?
What do you say when you knock
on the door on Halloween?
Good morning.
Good morning?
You don't say good morning.
- Trick or treat!
- Trick or treat!
There's no point denying it.
They're much happier
without me.
She's buying the cheaper
cuts of meat.
Saving her pennies.
Suppose she has to sell
the house?
How far am I willing
to let this go?
Then again,
it could end at any moment.
I could be exposed.
Christ, if I did go back
I mean, how would I begin?
How does a man
in my situation
explain himself to his wife?
She'll think
I vacated my senses.
If anything, I've come
into my senses fully.
My god, I can see it
so clearly.
I've constructed
the whole thing.
The jealousy
the resentment..
...the selfish urgency.
Howard is victim.
Howard is persecutor.
There's no one there,
Howard.
Howard has mastered
the world.
That was my prison.
That's what I've escaped.
Leaving me where now?
An outcast of cosmos.
I'll tell you this.
You can think
whatever you like.
I love my wife now as I've
never loved her before.
So I'm guessing
Thanksgiving dinner
will be at babs' house
this year.
And you know what
that means.
Zilch-o for me
in the leftovers department.
Who am I kidding?
A family of ten
could eat for weeks
off what my neighbors
throw out.
This stuff will
keep forever.
The whole attic's
like a goddamn refrigerator.
Unfortunately,
Howard Wakefield had
ignored some basic repairs.
What about
when it starts snowing?
Diana will think
she has a prowler.
Stupid. They're not home.
Go inside where it's warm.
The first catch
of the game..
He's going for another
first down.
And with our
black Friday sales
going on
throughout the entire weekend
you can find savings
for the entire family.
Ssh. Shh, shh.
Want some wine?
Here.
Just a little --
just a little sip.
Here.
"The quality of mercy
is not strained.
"It droppeth
as the gentle rain
from heaven
upon the place beneath."
Your whole life
you hear that quoted.
I never got it till now.
Mercy is not something
you ever get to request.
Not strained
means not forced.
It's given freely.
Thank you, Herbert.
Thank you, Emily.
No reason.
Just a gift drops
from the sky.
Twice blessed.
Blessing him that gives
and him that takes
if I remember correctly.
Thank you.
The giving and the taking
all in one.
Okay.
Thank you so much, Caleb.
We'll see you in June? July?
June? Okay.
Okay.
Supposed she had
recognized us.
You could have lost her
right there, pal.
Unthinkable.
I mean, the shock of it.
To look into Diana's eyes.
Her eyes that I've seen into
countless, countless times
to look and to see nothing.
I had no idea how one-sided
this relationship
had become.
Where should I dump
daddy's clothes?
Put everything in the car.
Good god.
They're emptying my closet.
I'll be right back.
Just put the oven on,
would you, please? 350.
- Alright.
- Close the door.
Am I a coward, afraid
of facing her rejection?
Or am I just resolved
to see this thing through?
And by this thing
what the hell do I even mean?
Gone is the provider
the family man, the litigator
the husband.
All that remains
is the lover.
Enduring, passionate.
I love her
because she belongs to me.
And I love her
because she doesn't.
And I know
if I come in from exile
there's every chance
I'll lose her.
On the other hand
I know this look she has
from deep memory.
My wife, infatuated..
...eager to please..
...trusting that every word
is true.
Why wouldn't she seek
a little tenderness?
I'm not saying
I welcome this.
I'm saying I understand.
Mom, can you get scissors?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, hang on.
Just leave the tree
by the steps, okay?
Okay.
Company for dinner?
Who can it be?
Um..
Ah! A-ha!
A city feller, eh?
He's tall.
Not much to conclude
from that.
My, my.
Coffee and dessert
in the living room.
This is a special evening.
Oh, my god.
Dirk morrison.
Son of bitch.
Then again,
who else would it be?
The unfinished business.
They've compared stories
revived the past.
Jesus.
He's told her
everything by now.
At last, the great fraud
has been exposed.
You do understand
that this was the music
of our courtship.
If he's the one
you think you want, my love..
...it seems only fair
to give you the choice
this time.
Forgive me
if I don't stand and watch..
...as another man lays claim
to your affections.
What happened to the burberry
coat that -- that was here?
It was sold yesterday.
Sorry.
- There.
- Thank you.
It seems remarkable
that I still know
how to drive.
Strange to be subject
to rules again.
You forget god awfulness.
Buildings stacked up
like that.
People in endless
replication.
It's impossible to imagine
I worked here once.
That I could
ever work here again.
One thing at a time, Howard.
Construct it.
First the thrift store,
then the haircut.
And now I can pass
through this door.
First that and now this.
Karaoke.
- Daddy!
- Daddy!
I'm home.