Page 11 of The Location Shoot
She turned to Jean. “So, do tell. What is your latest masterpiece about?”
He shook his head. “I want your pure impression.” He turned to the others and instructed, “You’re all under strict orders. Do not show her your scripts.”
Ella rolled her eyes. “Fine, we can play it that way. Will you at least tell me the title?”
“No,” Jean said, gently tugging on one of the curls hanging on the side of her face, mesmerized like a child as it bounced back up.
She giggled and pointed to a pack of cigarettes on the table. “May I?”
“Please, be my guest,” Finn said, holding out the pack and flipping it open for her.
She slid a cigarette out, tilted her chin downward, and softly said, “Thank you,” as their eyes met.
“My pleasure,” he replied, staring at her as if they were the only two souls in the room. He retrieved a silver lighter and leaned across the table to light it for her.
She exhaled a line of smoke and said, “Merci.” He smiled in return and took his seat again. “So,” she said, “we can’t talk about the film. What shall we discuss? Who hates each other? Who’s sleeping together?”
CHAPTER 4
The next morning, Finn meandered into the dining room shortly after eight o’clock. As usual, Albie was sitting in the corner by the window, reading the newspaper as he munched on buttered toast with orange marmalade. They nodded politely at one another. Across the room, Ella stretched her arms as she gazed out the window, notebooks strewn across a nearby table. She was wearing a white cropped T-shirt that showed off her slim waist, wide-legged jeans that flared at the bottom, elongating her frame, and beaded sandals, revealing several toe rings. Her thick hair was pulled into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. She looked effortlessly beautiful, and he caught himself staring as she turned toward him. They made eye contact, and she smiled and waved him over.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning. Please join me.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to disturb you,” he said, gesturing to the notebooks on the table.
She scooped up the journals and pushed them aside in a pile. “Nonsense. I’d love the company.”
He sat down and looked around the quiet room. “I’ve been on my own most mornings. Albie likes to be left alone,which I understand. Willow and Charlotte have breakfast sent up to their rooms. Michael often finds his way here in a panicked rush because he’s always pushing the clock to make his call time, and Jean is on set before any of us are even awake.”
She laughed. “When he’s obsessed, he’s obsessed.”
A waiter came over with a fresh pot of coffee and filled Finn’s mug. “What can I get you both this morning?”
“After you,” Finn said.
“A soft-boiled egg and some fruit, and more hot water for my tea, please,” Ella said.
“Oatmeal with berries, please,” Finn said. When the waiter walked away, Finn continued, “This place doesn’t exactly have a state-of-the-art gym, so I run in the mornings and then find myself famished by breakfast.”
“I’m sure this isn’t the kind of living situation you’re used to when you’re on location. It’s seriously lacking in glamour, although I find it quite charming. There’s something peaceful and cozy about this place. It feels a bit like a hug.”
He smiled and shook his head. “I’ve done about a hundred feature films, but this one is a first in many ways. Even though this place lacks some modern touches, the charm isn’t lost on me. It’s like we’re all living in someone’s house together, not in some austere hotel. I’m really enjoying spending time with Jean and the cast. It’s starting to feel kind of like a family, just like in the film, which I guess is his logic.”
She smiled. “Well, you won’t need to eat alone anymore unless you choose to. I never miss breakfast, though I’m usually so swept up in my work that I forget to have lunch.”
“What are you working on? You mentioned a four-book project.”
“I’m interested in what brings human beings pleasure and what that experience is like. I have a theory that thereare only four things human beings experience in their wholeness: sex, art, food, and nature. Culture can get in the way and influence, obscure, and subvert our experience of these things, and in fact, it usually does. Yet there is at least the possibility, the potentiality that we may experience them with a oneness that doesn’t exist elsewhere.”
Finn was completely enthralled, his eyes glued to her as she spoke.
She continued, “It’s why these things have the power to bring us tremendous pleasure like nothing else—they make us feel the splendor of being alive. When they are good and when we’re truly free and open to the experience, these things feed our souls, awaken our senses, and propel us to states of calm and ecstasy.”
“I’ve never thought about that before, but now I find myself reflecting on my own life and the things that have brought me bliss. I’m completely bowled over. This is fascinating.”
She smiled and said, “Thank you. So, I’m writing four short books, one on each of those topics. Together, it’s a study in human pleasure and this idea I have about oneness.”
