Inside back of a covered, converted pick-up, four people are seated down each side, amongst them Richard, Francoise, and Etienne.
Behind them as they bump along, can be seen the dusty red road bordered with dense green shrubs.
The truck stops.
Richard unloads the final of the three rucksacks from the roof of the truck, passing it down to Etienne who stands at the back with Francoise.
The truck pulls away, revealing as sign, "Seashell Bungalows".
A simple wooden shack on stilts, one of several standing in a line at the edge of the beach. There is a small porch to the front.
A spartan room: bed, mosquito nets, chair, cupboard, fan.
Richard dumps his rucksack.
A long inflatable tube is towed past by a motorboat, its passengers whooping with delight.
As it passes, Francoise is revealed, standing in the water, looking in towards the shore. She begins to walk in.
On the beach there are sunbathers, games of beach volley ball, and vendors selling food and sunglasses.
RICHARD (V.O.)
This was just the kind of place I didn't want to hang around. Not that it's lacking in comfort. Quite the opposite. It's got everything. Everything you could possibly need to make you feel at home. And what's the point of that.
On the beach Francoise picks up a towel.
The restaurant fronts on to the beach. At the back there is a bar.
Richard sits alone at a table with a drink, watching the scene on the beach, including Francoise.
Etienne pulls up a chair and sits down.
Francoise will join them as the dialogue proceeds.
ETIENNE
It's arranged. Tomorrow morning. Eight hundred baht.
RICHARD
Nice work.
ETIENNE
There is one problem.
Etienne opens the map on the table.
ETIENNE
He will not take us to the island. It's in the National Park and it is forbidden to go there. But we are allowed to travel to this one to stay for one night.
RICHARD
That's the wrong one.
ETINENNE
I know that.
Francoise sits down with a drink.
RICHARD
So from there to there?
FRANCOISE
We swim.
RICHARD
Swim?
ETIENNE
We leave our rucksacks on this island and then we swim.
FRANCOISE
You can swim?
RICHARD
Yes, of course I can swim. How far do you think it is?
ETIENNE
One or two kilometers.
RICHARD
Oh. Great. Not far at all. I don't like to be negative, but do you think we should let someone know where we're going?
ETIENNE
Why?
RICHARD
We're going to swim "one or two kilometers" across open sea, from one uninhabited island to another. Something goes wrong. What then?
FRANCOISE
Have you told someone?
RICHARD
No.
FRANCOISE
I think it's a bad idea to tell anyone.
ETIENNE
Richard, it's secret. That's the whole point.
RICHARD
Yeah, OK. Foreget it. We won't tell anyone.
Richard picks up the map
Richard sits on his veranda, under cover. Beyond him is a tropical downpour.
He hears two sets of footsteps rushing up the stairs of the next door bungalow. Two men, Americans, Zeph and Sammy, try to open their door but cannot.
ZEPH
Fuck, I knew we locked it. We should have left it unlocked.
Sammy addresses Richard
SAMMY
We lost our key
RICHARD
Where did you lose it?
ZEPH
On the beach. Or in the water.
SAMMY
The truth is we don't know.
RICHARD
You try reception?
ZEPH
Closed. Back later. We hope.
RICHARD
Pretty annoying
SAMMY
It's a disaster, to which there is only one sensible, considered, appropriate, and timely response.
All three are stoned. A joint is passed around while Zeph sings badly.
ZEPH
I smoke two joints in the morning, and I smoke two joints at night, and I smoke two joints in the afternoon, and then I feel alright. I smoke two joints in time of peace, and two in time of war. I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints and then I smoke some more. I can't remember the rest.
RICHARD
Perhaps you smoked too much dope.
ZEPH
Not possible
SAMMY
Do you know the Kentucky friend mouse story?"
RICHARD
Woman bites chicken leg, turns out to be a mouse. Or a rat. It's an urban myth.
SAMMY
Exactly. Always happened to someone else.
RICHARD
So?
SAMMY
So there's an urban myth, well more of a rural myth, going around here at the moment. It's about a beach.
RICHARD
Uh-huh.
ZEPH
Yea. This beach is perfect. It's on an island, right, hidden from the sea. Imagine: pure white sand and enough dope to smoke all day every day for the rest of your life. Only a few know exactly where it is and they won't tell anyone.
SAMMY
Of course no one's actually ever met any of these people, only met someone who has. You know what I mean. It's a Kentucky fried mouse.
RICHARD
I hadn't heard that one before. But it's good. It's a good story.
A torch shines on them, jolting them into some sort of reaction and a woman's voice calls out.
THAI WOMAN
Hey, you! I got your key!
Richard's rucksack is packed an by the door.
Richard is sitting copying Daffy's map on to another sheet of paper. He finishes and writes a note on the copy.
He puts the original in his pack and lifts it.
Richard hops over the fence to the veranda of Zeph and Sammy's bungalow.
He slips the folded copy under their door.
He looks around to check that he has not been seen.
Richard walks along a narrow wooden pontoon, his rucksack on his back.
He stops about half way along at a small narrow wooden boat with an outboard motor.
He looks down into it.
Etienne and Francoise walk past him along the pontoon without stopping and disappear from view.
RICHARD (V.O.)
OK, let's face it. There is no such thing as a local fisherman anymore. There really isn't the demand for them. If you want to catch fish you put down a hundred kilometer drag net.
Richard walks away along the pontoon.
RICHARD (V.O.)
(continuing)
And if you want to go somewhere - you get a taxi.
Richard, Francoise and Etiene sit at the back of a small powerful motor launch which skims across the surface of the sea with great noise and speed.
The motor launch idles gently as it drifts into the shallows of a small deserted bay.
Richard Francoise, and Etienne jump from the boat into the shallows.
As the sun sets they sit in silence, each shovelling down forkloads of noodles.
The only sounds are those of crickets and the waves gently breaking on the shore.
Richard is lying asleep on the sand.
He is woken by someone rummaging through the rucksack beside him. It is Francoise, removing clothes, books, souvenirs. Eventually she finds her camera, a mini-tripod and a cable-release.
She places them on an unfolded T-shirt on the sand.
RICHARD
Francoise -
FRANCOISE
Sshh. Etienne will be angry if I wake him. He thinks I waste film taking photographs of the sky.
Richard wakes up and works out what she is doing.
RICHARD
I think so too.
FRANCOISE
One night I will get the perfect photograph.
She presses the cable release.
FRANCOISE
(continuing)
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six.
She lets the shutter close.
FRANCOISE
(continuing)
Take a look.
Richard leans over and squints down the viewfinder.
The sky is framed. Francoise leans into the frame.
Richard draws back.
RICHARD
You realize that in the eternity of space, there is a planet, just like this one, where you are photographing back towards us. You're photographing yourself.
FRANCOISE
Incredible
RICHARD
There are infinite worlds out there, where anything that can happen does happen.
FRANCOISE
So on one you are rich, on another poor. On one you are a murderer, on another the victim.
RICHARD
Exactly
FRANCOISE
Richard, you know something -
She hands him the cable release while she adjusts the camera.
FRANCOISE
(continuing)
That is just the kind of pretentious bullshit that Englishmen and Americans always say to French girls so that they can sleep with them.
RICHARD
Sorry. I thought I was doing quite well.
FRANCOISE
(continuing)
Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept…
Francoise voice fades away over an image of the night sky.
Time lapse: the sky rapidly changes to day.
RICHARD (V.O.)
When you develop an infatuation for someone, you always find a reason to believe that this is exactly the person for you. It doesn't need to be a good reason, a bad one will do just as well. Taking photographs of the night sky, for example: in the long run that's just the kind of dumb irritating habit that would cause you to split up. But at the time - it's the charming eccentricity you've been searching for all these years.
From a different beach they look towards their target: the island. It is 1-2 kilometers away.
Richard, Etienne, and Francoise stand on the beach looking towards it. Each is in their swimwear and a T-shirt, and carries a plastic bag, inflated and tied, in which they carry their valuables and some rations.
ETIENNE
One kilometer
FRANCOISE
Two.
ETIENNE
Richard?
RICHARD
I don't know - I'm American.
ETIENNE
So?
RICHARD
We think in miles, not kilometers.
ETIENNE
So how many miles do you think it is?
RICHARD
I have no idea but it looks like a long way.
FRANCOISE.
Too far?
RICHARD
If it's too far, then we'll drwon. But if we don’t' try then we'll never know.
Richard wades into the water.,
RICHARD
So, let's go.
RICHARD (V.O.)
You have to enjoy a moment like that. You just don't know, you see; it may never happen again.
Once more.
RICHARD
SO, let's go.
RICHARD (V.O.)
I am such a fucking hero. "Let's go". I felt like I'd waited all my life just to say something like that. So I replayed it a couple of times, taking it from different perspectives.
Multiple repeats of Richard's moment from various perspectives and speeds.
RICHARD
So: let's go.
RICHARD (V.O.)
You have to enjoy a moment like that. You just don't know, you see: it may never happen again.
Once more.
RICHARD
So: let's go.
He dives in and begins swimming.
They are far out to sea now, several hundred meters from the shore.
Richard swims at the front, the other two about five meters behind.
RICHARD
Everyone ok?
ETIENNE
We're ok.
RICHARD
I think we're about half way.
A few strokes later.
ETIENNE
Richard - I saw a fin!
RICHARD
What!
ETIENNE
A fin!
They all stop and tread water.
RICHARD
A shark fin?
ETIENNE
I don't know, just a fin. Over there. About a hundred meters.
RICHARD
Big?
ETIENNE.
Yes.
RICHARD
Well what the fuck do you expect me to do about it.
ETIENNE
Nothing. I just thought you ought to know.
RICHARD
Well to be honest, Etienne, I would rather have not known about it.
ETIENNE
I'm sorry.
RICHARD
A bit fucking late.
He starts swimming again.
A few strokes later he hears a short sharp scream from Francoise.
ETIENNE
Francoise! Francoise!
Richard turns around. Francoise is gone. Her plastic bag bobs on the surface. Etienne is frantic, hysterical.
ETIENNE
(continuing)
She is gone!
RICHARD
What happened?
Etienne submerges briefly and resurfaces.
ETIENNE
She just went under the water. She was pulled under. Oh God, I don't see her.
RICHARD
Was there a shark? Did you see a shark?
They both start looking down at their feet and circling frantically in the water.
ETIENNE
I don't know! I don't know! Oh God.
Suddenly Richard screams.
Francoise surfaces, pulling up his ankle.
She and Etienne laugh at Richard.
RICHARD
Very funny. You Europeans, you have ssuch a playful sense of humor. No wonder your comedy has conquered the world.
He swims on.
ETIENNE
What about Moliere?
RICHARD
Fuck off.
He swims on without looking round.
One by one the three swimmers emerge from the sea and collapse on the beach. They are absolutely exhausted and lie there on the sand, unable to speak.
Eventually, they tear open their plastic bags, drink some water and eat some chocolate.
Richard has a little water left in his bottle. He notices Francoise and Etienne eyeing it enviously.
He holds the bottle out towards them, then snatches it back and swigs down the last of the water.
Richard, Francoise, and Etienne walk through the forest behind the beach.
They scramble up a steep slope through dense foliage.
Richard, at the front, pauses to let the other two pass him, then he follows.
Richard reaches the top of the slope and follows the other two through a gap in the foliage.
He joins Etienne and Francoise who are standing in awe at the edge of a large clearing filled with cannabis plants.
ETIENNE
Nice Island.
They smile and examine the plants.
Richard wanders a short distance away.
Something glinting on the ground catches Richard's eye. He leans down and picks it up. It is an empty brass cartridge from a rifle. Richard looks around.
Just ahead he sees the remains of an extinguished campfire, and beyond that, protruding from the undergrowth, a pair of male legs and beyond them, the butt of a rifle.
CLOSE IN on the nest in the undergrowth. The legs and gun belong to a Farmer. He is asleep. His physique is strong and his skin weathered.
Richard turns back to Etienne and Francoise. They are still strolling amongst the plants.
Richard begins to back away.
The Farmer wakes.
He lifts his gun and stands up to look out over the dope field.
There is no one there.
The farmer looks around, sees nobody. His attention is attracted by a whistle.
He looks over. A group of three more, similarly armed Farmers emerge from the forest at the other side.
He waves at them. They beckon him across.
He sets off through the field.
The three inturders continue to crawl along the ground between the plants
Suddenly Richard stops. The farmer's footsteps come closer.
His feet pass in the gap between Richard and Francoise. He pauses. They lie frozen in place. He lights a cigarette and drops the match. He moves on.
They breath again.
Richard, Etienne, and Francoise reach the far edge of the field and enter the forest again.
FRANCOISE
My God, what are we doing here?
ETIENNE
Shit. This was not on the map, Richard.
RICHARD
I didn't draw the map, Etienne.
ETIENNE
It's a fucking mess.
RICHARD
I didn't force you to come, so don't blame me.
FRANCOISE
We should go back. It's too dangerous. We shouldn't be here.
RICHARD
Go back? How? Swim perhaps? Great idea. Back in the water? Well fuck that. You swim back if you want to. Both of you. I'm not.
ETIENNE
Richard - she is frightened. So am I.
Richard looks at them. They await his lead.
RICHARD
Well, we're not going back.
Richard smiles. The other two are still nervous.
RICHARD (V.O)
Once again, I think you'll agree. A moment worth savoring.