LOVE IS…

by
Mohammad Jangda

SCENE 1: THE END

LONG SHOT of JOHN and JANE standing only a few feet apart, facing
each other, under a gazebo beside a small lake. Both wear solemn
looks on their faces and stand there just looking at each other
but not saying a thing. They’re at the ending stages of their
relationship.

JOHN
So…
[Pause]
This is it?

JANE
This…
[Pause]
This is it.

There’s another pause as the two shift their gazes away from one
another. After several seconds, their gazes meet once again. The
screen splits.

Instantaneously a divide occurs down the middle of the screen as

the two halves of the screen turn into independent views. The
cameras in each half follow an identical swinging arc motion to
close-ups of the two faces: the RIGHT-SCREEN with a close-up of
JANE’s face and the LEFT-SCREEN with a close-up of JOHN’s face.

JOHN
I …
[pause]

Silence.

JANE
This …
[pause]

Silence.

JANE
So I guess…
[pause]
Guess I’ll see ya then.

JOHN
Yeah. Yeah, see ya.

JOHN and JANE nod slightly, trying not to look into each other’s
eyes. They turn around and start walking away. The relationship
has finally ended. Light instrumental music begins playing in the
background as JOHN and JANE become distant figures on the screen.
 RIGHT-SCREEN:
We are now at a different location in the park with no people
around. It’s a long shot of a path with trees growing along it.
There’s a bench near the right edge of the screen.

LEFT-SCREEN:
We are at another location in the park that is near symmetric to
the RIGHT-SCREEN.

RIGHT-SCREEN:
JANE walks in from the left edge and walks slowly along the path.

JANE [v.o.]
I loved him, but I never really fell in love with him

RIGHT-SCREEN:
JANE sits down on the far right edge of the bench

LEFT-SCREEN:
JOHN enters from the right edge and slowly makes his way along
the path.

JOHN [v.o.]
I loved her, but it never really felt real.

LEFT-SCREEN:
JOHN takes a seat on the far left edge of the bench.

JOHN [v.o.]
With love, you’re never really in control. You know something’s going
to happen, but you never really know what.

JANE [v.o.]
Love has no rules, no boundaries. There’s an end and a start, but what
goes on in between, it’s an unknown, a void.

JOHN [v.o.]
JANE [v.o.]
(together)
With love, you’re a prisoner, and there’s no escape.

RIGHT-SCREEN & LEFT-SCREEN:

JOHN and JANE simultaneously get up from the bench and walk off
the screen.

SCENE 2:

The scene shifts to a period shortly after the breakup. JOHN and
JANE are in their respective apartments where they have working
hard at removing any and all reminders of their relationship with
each other.

RIGHT-SCREEN:
We’re in JANE’s house. It’s very dimly lit, with light coming in
only from a lamp on a nearby table and the glowing embers in the
fireplace which we are now viewing a close-up of. We can see
charred pieces of Polaroid photos among the ashes.
LEFT-SCREEN:
We’re in JOHN’s apartment. It’s quite dark as well, with the only
light in the room streaming through the shut blinds. We’re seeing
a close-up of a trashcan with ripped up Polaroid photos scattered
inside along with a few crumpled up pieces of paper.

We now begin to move backwards through time.

RIGHT-SCREEN: (LEFT-SCREEN remains frozen)

The ashes of the photos re-materialize and we see one fly out of
the fireplace. The camera pans to follow the photo into the hands
of JANE. We zoom out to a medium shot of her as several more
photos fly into her hands. JANE turns and moves backwards towards
a coffee table in her living room where she “puts down” the
photos.

LEFT-SCREEN: (RIGHT-SCREEN remains frozen)

The ripped Polaroid photos fly out of the trashcan and we follow
them into JOHN’s hands. He “un-tears” the photos and we zoom out
to a medium shot of him in the living room. He turns to a desk
next to him and “puts down” the photos.

RIGHT-SCREEN & LEFT-SCREEN:

We zoom over the table and desk where the photos are placed and
see them come to life. Each photo turns into a “living” memory, a
memorable past experience shared by JOHN and JANE.

Each memory flashes briefly across the screen. Each is black and
white, hazy with lots of noise and scratches, much like a flick
from the early 20th Century, as if each memory is slowly fading
and breaking apart.

We see flashes of them together at a picnic, playing with their

dog at a park, kissing in the rain, drinking coffees in a café,
at a movie.

We fade back into the split screen of the JOHN’s and JANE’s homes
with close-ups of the tables with the scattered Polaroid photos.
Each screen pans to spots the tables where a stack of Polaroid
photos are placed.

LEFT-SCREEN: (RIGHT-SCREEN remains frozen)

JOHN “picks” up each photo in his stack. This portion is sped up,
but just enough so that we get a glimpse of each photo, which
together, form an “animated” sequence. We see a fight between the
couple. It’s the last fight they had, a very heated fight; the
one that finally broke the relationship. The last photo we see is
ripped in half, with JOHN and JANE on each of the two halves with
their backs turned to each other.

RIGHT-SCREEN: (LEFT-SCREEN remains frozen)

And now, JANE’s side comes alive. She begins to “pick up” her
stack of Polaroid photos as well, and another fight is shown.
This is an earlier fight, a minor argument. This time, though,
the last photo is torn through the middle but only halfway with
JOHN and JANE on either side.
We pan the cameras on each side to JOHN’s and JANE’s hands which
are holding the stacks of Polaroid photos. We zoom out to a long
shot on both sides of the screen.

With the stacks in both their hands, they move backwards to where
they keep their keepsakes. For JANE, it’s a simple shoebox on top
of a bookshelf; for JOHN, it’s a small cabinet. They “put away”
their photos, and the focus shifts to the ground. JANE is staring
at a broken necklace, the beads scattered across the floor. JOHN
is staring at a shattered watch. Both were anniversary presents
from each other. We zoom into a close-up of each object on the
floor. JOHN freezes, JANE rewinds.

RIGHT-SCREEN:
The camera pans to follow the necklace as it flies up from the
ground and the beads fall back to place into a close-up of JANE’s
hands and then to her neck where the necklace “mends.” JANE
freezes, and now JOHN rewinds.

LEFT-SCREEN:
The watch cycles back through the impact, the glass “repairing”
and flying back into JOHN’s hands and onto his wrist again.

The two halves experience a flashback of the couple’s anniversary

in a form similar to that of the earlier “living” memories.
They’re at a lavish restaurant, dressed their finest and talking
and laughing over glasses of wine. The right screen cuts to JOHN
pulling out a jewelry case from his coat, opening it to reveal a
diamond-laced necklace. He puts it around JANE’s neck. The right
screen cuts back to images of their dinner. The left screen cuts
to JANE pulling out a jewelry box from her purse, and opening it
to show an expensive metal watch which she fastens around JOHN’s
left wrist. Both screens cut to a scene where the couple shares a
kiss viewed from different sides of their table.

Flash back to the split screen of the two in their homes. The
cameras move away from JANE’s neck and JOHN’s hand down to the
floor once again where we see a crumpled piece of parchment on
each half. The papers fly up and the camera pans to follow them
into JOHN’s and JANE’s hands where they “uncrumple.”

The parchments were once joined, and together contained a message

that the two had coined early in their relationship, a statement
of their love for each other: “love is endless misery without
you.” They had torn the parchment in half and each kept a half as
a reminder of their other half.

JOHN and JANE hold up their portion of the parchment near the
inside edge of their half of the screen, such that they mesh
together as if they form the original complete parchment.

LEFT-SCREEN:
JOHN’s parchment reads: “love is”

RIGHT-SCREEN:
JANE’s parchment reads: “endless”.
 LEFT-SCREEN:
JOHN’s parchment flips over. It now reads (upside down): “misery”.

RIGHT-SCREEN:
JANE’s parchment is turned 180 degrees so the text is now upside
down.

The entire screen turns 180 degrees so that the two halves of the
parchment together read: “endless misery”.

LEFT-SCREEN:
JANE’s parchment flips vertically to now read (upside down):
“without you.”

RIGHT-SCREEN:
JOHN’s parchment does a 180 degree turn so the text, “misery”, is
now upside down.

The screen turns another 180 to read “misery without you.”

We zoom out to a medium shot of the two looking at their

respective pieces of parchment. They move backwards into a small
hallway in their homes. They “pin” the parchments onto the wall
where they had been hanging.

The cameras on each side pan down onto a table with photo frames
that have been turned face down. The “prop up” the frames. Both
frames contain a split screen image of the couple, with a close-
up shot of JANE on the right side, and JOHN on the right.

The cameras on each side zoom into the photos, the right side
into JANE’s face and the left into JOHN’s.

SCENE 3: THE BEGINNING

We are now on-location, where the photos took place. The setting
is the exact same as that of the breakup. The screen is still
split. On the LEFT-SCREEN we see a close-up of JOHN’s face, on
the right, a close-up of JANE’s.

The atmosphere is again quite awkward, but in a happy way. By

chance the two have met and there’s instant chemistry. They have
a hard time getting the right words to say. But both seem happy,
yet still barely glancing into each others eyes.

JANE
(looking up)
Hi…

JOHN
(meeting her gaze)
HI…

The two smile then quickly look away. After a brief period of
silence the two break out into a laugh as they enjoy the
awkwardness of the moment.
The cameras swing outwards to merge together in a long shot
similar to that of the opening shot. The two continue laughing
and finally stop. They look into each others eyes again.

THE END?