Fade in.
1
INTERIOR: TRAIN - AFTERNOON
The Eurail rolls along. Inside, passengers sleep, read, and stare out the window. A few walk up and down the aisles.
C00ELINE, a young woman in her mid-twenties, is curled up in her seat reading Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye. Strikingly attractive, she plays it down by wearing no makeup, a loose-fitting vintage dress, and flat shoes. She continues reading while taking an occasional bite of a chocolate bar. Sitting four rows back and on the other side of the aisle, JESSE, also mid-twenties, is engrossed in Klaus Kinski's memoir, All I Need Is Love. Casually good-looking but a little scruffy, he dresses in the jeans and T-shirt mode. Suddenly a couple, two fortyish types who have been arguing semiquietly in the seat behind CELINE, start yelling at each other in German. The WIFE takes a swipe at the newspaper the HUSBAND has been screening himself behind.
WIFE Will you put down that damn newspaper and listen to me?
HUSBAND What've I been doing the last thirty minutes? Would you shut up for Chrissake?
WIFE You shut up! How dare you tell me to shut up! It's the same damn thing all over again! I can't believe-
HUSBAND I said shut up! I'm putting down my newspaper and telling you to shut up.
CELINE suddenly gets up, grabs her bag, and starts looking for another seat. A few rows back, she finds a seat across the aisle from JESSE. Before sitting down, they make brief eye contact and kind of shake their heads and smile at the tension. Just as she settles in and goes back to her book, the WIFE gets up and storms down the aisle. JESSE and CELINE...