The Grand Budapest Hotel (12 page)

Distant tires squeal.

M. Gustave and Zero sit up quickly and peer off down the road. An approaching car accelerates, whining in the darkness. A pair of headlights pops into view from the woods. A large sedan emerges with
a roar, zig-zagging onto the farm road. It slides across the gravel and rips to a stop in front of them. A sign next to five stars on the side of the hood reads:
HOTEL EXCELSIOR PALACE
.

One of the back doors snaps open, and M. Ivan shouts from inside:

M. Gustave and Zero dash out from behind the haystack and sprint to the vehicle.

The door slams shut, and the chauffeur punches it. They speed back into the hamlet. M. Ivan immediately begins briefing M. Gustave and Zero:

M. Ivan deals out a pair of train tickets to M. Gustave and Zero. M. Gustave gives his a quick study, then mumbles a puzzled objection:

M. Ivan produces two, pre-tied neckties. M. Gustave and Zero slip them over their heads and adjust the knots. The chauffeur hits the brakes, and M. Ivan swings the door open again.

M. Gustave and Zero jump out in front of a very small depot and slam the door. M. Ivan says out the window:

M. Ivan leans down and searches for something on the floor. He sits up and thrusts out a tiny version of a familiar bottle. M. Gustave melts as he realizes:

M. Gustave looks impressed and deeply touched. He leans to Zero and whispers:

Zero’s eyes widen. He cocks his head, dubious. M. Gustave nods firmly. Zero reluctantly digs a handful of coins and bills out of his pocket and passes it onto M. Gustave. M. Gustave says to M. Ivan with profound gratitude:

M. Gustave attempts to discreetly press the money into M. Ivan’s palm – but M. Ivan withdraws. He waves his hands and says by way of gentle refusal:

M. Gustave smiles sadly. He bows. The hotel car skids away.

Silence. M. Gustave sprays himself four times with the perfume atomizer. His posture and bearing immediately improve. He turns to Zero. Pause.

M. Gustave holds out the bottle. Zero looks confused – then simultaneously flattered and hesitant. He takes the cologne and spritzes himself once lightly. He gives a polite nod and returns the bottle.

A train pulls into the station, and M. Gustave and Zero race out onto the platform.

Cut to:

A stack of wooden planks next to the opening in the cell floor. Ten guards and twenty soldiers stand crowded in the little room looking down at the hole. Henckel’s head pokes up from the crawl-space below. He wears a look of grim determination as he delivers the following:

Henckels hesitates. He squints across the room. He points.

The guards and soldiers all turn to look past the bunks behind them and clear the view to:

Jopling alone in the dim back corner.

Jopling steps fully into view. A shifty guard explains nervously:

Henckels climbs up out of the hole as Jopling approaches and offers his card. Henckel snaps it up, gives it a fraction-of-a-second look, then hands it off to an underling.

Pause. Jopling nods. Henckels asks pointedly:

Henckels withdraws a typewritten document out of his coat. He holds it up.

Insert:

A police report with a photograph of Deputy Kovacs’ body in a Pharaoh’s casket with his hands crossed on his chest. A section at the bottom of the page is labeled
FINGERPRINTS
.
There are five for the left hand, but only a thumb for the right.

Jopling studies the document. He shrugs.

Jopling makes his way toward the cell door accompanied by several soldiers. He pauses just before he exits. He leans down and picks up a flattened, pink cardboard box off the floor. He scrapes a ridge of icing with his finger and licks the tip. He says softly:

Henckels watches Jopling suspiciously as he shrinks away down the corridor.

Dmitri, dressed in black pajamas and a black smoking jacket with a fur collar, listens on the telephone in a small alcove. He says calmly:

Dmitri hangs up. He crosses into the library and stands in front of a snooker table. The box containing Madame D.’s will sits among billiard balls in the middle of it. Its contents have been spread out and scattered into a sprawling mess. Marguerite, Laetizia, and Carolina play cards and sip at tiny glasses of port at the other end of the room.

Dmitri drinks a vodka in one gulp. He shuffles and sifts among the scraps, preoccupied. He picks up a folded sliver of cream-colored writing paper. He opens it.

Insert:

A page of Grand Budapest Hotel stationery with a set of crossed keys insignia at the top. Handwritten below is: ‘Remember: I’m always with you.’

Dmitri stares at the piece of paper. He tosses it back onto the table. It lands on top of a faded, old photograph of ‘Boy with Apple’ with the stamp at the bottom of a long defunct auction house.

Dmitri frowns. He turns around and looks up at the wall above the fireplace directly behind him. His face goes white.

Cut to:

The woodcut print of the two lesbians masturbating. A bit of the discolored wallpaper sticks out behind it on either side.

Dmitri is stunned. He stammers:

Marguerite, Laetizia, and Carolina all look. They seem confused. They respond simultaneously:

Dmitri shakes his head, speechless. He says finally, in angry shock:

Clotilde has materialized. Dmitri turns to her. Marguerite, Laetizia, and Carolina turn to her, also. Clotilde’s voice cracks and quivers as she says:

Pause. Dmitri grabs the woodcut off the wall and slams it
(
punching a thick hole through the center
)
over a small marble discus-thrower.

A third-class compartment on the overnight to Gabelmeister’s Peak. Students, peasants, and laborers sleep among rucksacks and baskets on hard benches and shelves lining the walls. M. Gustave and Zero whisper to each other from their bunks near the ceiling on either side of the room:

M. Gustave sighs. He says with deep sincerity and feeling: