Robert. Please.
(desperate to explain)
You don't understand -- no one does. When a woman makes the choice to marry, to have children -- in one way her life begins but in another way it stops. You build a life of details. You become a mother, a wife and you stop and stay steady so that your children can move. And when they leave they take your life of details with them. And then you're expected move again only you don't remember what moves you because no one has asked in so long. Not even yourself. You never in your life think that love like this can happen to you.
ROBERT
But now that you have it -
FRANCESCA
I want to keep it forever. I want to love you the way I do now the rest of my life. Don't you understand -- we'll lose it if we leave. I can't make an entire life disappear to start a new one. All I can do is try to hold onto to both. Help me. Help me not lose loving you.
She embraces him. He wraps his arms around her. He whispers.
ROBERT
Don't leave me. Don't leave me alone. Please.
This breaks her heart, knowing how hard it is for him to say this. She holds him tighter, until -
ROBERT (cont'd)
Listen. Maybe you feel this way, maybe you don't. Maybe it's just because you're in this house. Maybe ... maybe when they come back tomorrow you'll feel differently. Don't you think that's possible?
FRANCESCA
I don't know. Please...
ROBERT
I'm going to be here a few more days. I'll be at the Inn. We have some time. Let's not say any more now.
FRANCESCA
No. Don't do this.
ROBERT
I CAN'T SAY GOODBYE YET! We'll leave it for now. We're not saying goodbye. We're not making any decision. Maybe you'll change your mind. Maybe we'll accidentally run into each other and ... and you'll change your mind.
FRANCESCA
Robert, if that happens, you'll have to decide. I won't be able to.
She cries in his arms. He kisses her as if for the last time. Then, quickly, separates himself and leaves the house.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE
Robert walks briskly towards his truck not wanting to look back. He gets in, starts it up and drives away.
Francesca exits the house and watches the truck recede into the distance. She stops when she reaches the front gate,
leaning against it. She murmurs to herself -
FRANCESCA
Keep going. Please.
The truck drives away. Then, suddenly, stops. Francesca's heart quickens. She watches as the truck stands on the road in the distance. As if Robert was deciding to turn around or keep going. Francesca waits. Suddenly, the door to the truck
flies open and Robert exits. Francesca loses all restraint.
She opens the gate but her dress is caught on it. Robert stands by the truck. Francesca tears at the dress, ripping
off a button which falls to the ground. She runs down the road. Seeing her, Robert runs towards her as well.
They grab each other furiously. For these few moments, all considerations are gone. As he kisses her, he murmurs:
ROBERT
I forgot to take your picture.
She laughs through her tears as they continue to kiss. Camera pans up to the road beyond Robert's truck.
WE SEE RICHARD'S TRUCK DRIVING TOWARDS THEM. For a moment it seems as if they will be caught until we realize RICHARD'S
TRUCK IS BEING SUPERIMPOSED as the LIGHT GRADUALLY BRIGHTENS TO REVEAL:
MORNING.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE
Richard, Michael and Carolyn drive down the road toward the house. Robert's truck, and all traces of him, are gone.
Francesca steps into the doorway in a house dress to welcome her family home -- wondering how this will feel.
JOHNSON KITCHEN - EVENING
The Johnson family has dinner as Francesca narrates:
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
You all came home. And with you, my life of details.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE
Everyone is doing various daily chores.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
A day or two past and with each thought of him, a task would present itself like a life saver, pulling me further and further away from those four days.
INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING
Francesca is reading. Richard watches TV.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
I was grateful. I felt safe.
CUT TO:
20
EXT. WINTERSET - MAIN STREET - DAY
Richard and Francesca drive up to the general store to buy groceries. Francesca heads for the store as Richard crosses
the street.
FRANCESCA
Want anything special for dinner?
RICHARD
Hmm. How about that brown sugar meat loaf you make?
FRANCESCA
(smiles)
Okay.
She enters the store.
INT. GENERAL STORE - DAY
Francesca makes small talk with the grocery lady as she buys what she needs.
EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY
Francesca places a bag of groceries on the front seat of the truck, then gets in herself to wait for Richard. She takes a deep breath and removes a handkerchief from her bag to wipe the sweat from her face. She freezes -
Through the windshield, she sees ROBERT standing beside his truck across the street, staring at her. Her heart stops.
For a moment, she isn't even sure he's real.
The town moves about its business around them. But neither notice or care. Whatever safety or forgetfulness she felt is
gone. Her feelings burst through. She sits there helpless before him -- willing to go or stay depending on what he did.
He begins walking towards her. She prepares herself. Her life will change -- it has to. There's not turning back.
But the closer Robert gets, the clearer he can see that she is crying. And he stops.
Without any words, he realizes what taking her with him would mean. With just a glance, he sacrifices her. With their eyes locked in the middle of Main Street -- in front of the whole town -- they smile and say goodbye.
Robert returns to his truck. He drives off down Main Street, taking the first left.
Moments later, Richard throws the feed bag into the back of his truck and gets in. Francesca is wiping her eyes.
He doesn't notice. He drives off in the same direction as Robert.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
For a moment, I didn't know where I was. And for a split second, the thought crossed my mind that he really didn't want me -- that it was easy to walk away.
As they pass the corner where Robert made his left turn, Francesca turns to look and sees:
ROBERT'S TRUCK IS PARKED just off the corner. As if he had to drive away to get out of sight, but couldn't bring himself to drive any further.
The sight of him hiding there breaks Francesca's heart, she turns away from her husband to hide the tears.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE - DAY
WE REPLAY THE OPENING SCENE FROM THE MOVIE:
Carolyn is in the yard picking vegetables. Her parents drive up in their truck. She steps out with her bag of groceries
and walks briskly into the house. Richard follows more slowly with his bag of feed, stopping at the gate to pick up the
button from Francesca's red dress.
INT. KITCHEN
Francesca enters and places her groceries on the counter. She tries to compose herself. She sees the radio before her. She turns it on. The Dinah Washington song "I'LL CLOSE MY EYES" evokes every feeling of love and loss within her. She begins to cry.
She hears Richard enter the house. She stands out of sight, holding her hand to her mouth to muffle her crying. She hears:
MICHAEL (O.S.)
Dad! You bought the wrong feed!
RICHARD
What!?
She hears Richard exit the house.
EXT. LUCY REDFIELD'S HOUSE - NIGHT
A hand knocks on a door. Lucy Redfield opens it to find Francesca standing there with a cake.
FRANCESCA
Hi. I'm Francesca Johnson. I just feel awful I haven't come to visit sooner. I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Is it too late?
Lucy is shocked and moved at the same time.
LUCY
No. Not at all.
FRANCESCA
I was wondering if... maybe you'd like some company.
(almost manic)
I baked a cake!
Lucy looks at the cake. She's a little dazed by all this.
LUCY
Uh... sure. Please. Come in. I'll
make coffee.
Francesca enters. Lucy closes the door.
CUT TO:
EXT. IOWA LAKEFRONT - DAWN
Michael continues reading beside Carolyn as the sun rises.
MICHAEL
"We became inseparable, Lucy and I. The funny thing is, I didn't tell her about Robert until years later. But, for some reason, being with her somehow made me feel it was safe to think about him. To continue loving him. The town loved talking about the two of us but we didn't care. And neither did your father. Which I thought was a lovely thing. I received Robert's letter and my photograph soon after. I always wondered if your father found them. I was never quite sure..."
INT. KITCHEN - EVENING
At dinner, Richard remembers the button he found.
RICHARD
Oh, Franny, is this yours?
Francesca sees the button. She speaks her original lines MOS as HER NARRATION is hard:
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
I almost told him. In that moment I felt as if I couldn't hold it back. If he really loved me maybe he'd understand.
She returns to her meal. The family eats in silence.
FRANCESCA (cont'd; V.O.)
But love won't obey our expectations. Its mystery is pure and absolute. What Robert and I had, could not continue if we were together. What Richard and I shared would vanish if we were apart. But how I wanted to share this. How would our lives have changed if I had? Could anyone else have seen the beauty of it?
INT. JOHNSON KITCHEN - NIGHT
Francesca moves about the kitchen with a frantic pace as she puts the finishing touches on a cake. Placing the frosting bowl in the sink, she hears someone upstairs exiting their bedroom. She quickly gathers the cake and her bag and exits
through the screen door.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE - NIGHT
Fighting tears, she walks to the truck from around the house. She gets in and starts it. She vaguely hears her daughter
from the front door.
CAROLYN
Mom?
But she doesn't acknowledge it and drives away.
EXT. MOTOR INN - NIGHT
Her truck approaches and then speeds past the Inn where
Robert is staying. We can see his truck in the parking lot.
1979
INT. JOHNSON BEDROOM - NIGHT
And older Francesca cares for a sickly Richard. He lies in bed beside an array of medicines and tonics. She wipes his
forehead with a cool cloth as he takes his pills.
FRANCESCA
Better?
He nods. She smiles. She shuts off the light and lays beside him.
RICHARD
Franny?
FRANCESCA
Hmm?
RICHARD
I just want to say... I know you had your own dreams. I'm sorry I couldn't give them to you. I love you so much.
Francesca turns to him. She is so touched, tears fill her eyes. She nestles close to him, wrapping her arms around him.
1982
EXT. DES MOINES
Francesca eats at the same restaurant she shared with Robert.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
After your father died, I tried to get in touch with Robert but found out he had left the National Geographic soon after the Madison County. No one seemed to know where he was. My only connections to him were the places we'd been to that one day. And so each week, I'd re-visit them.
EXT. JOHNSON HOUSE - DAY
Francesca greets a UPS man with an envelope and a package.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
And then one day, I received the letter from his attorney, with a package.
INT. JOHNSON LIVING ROOM
Francesca reads the letter informing her of Robert's death. She then unwraps the package to reveal a MEDALLION with her
name inscribed and A PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK; a published collection of black and white photos by Robert Kincaid entitled "Four
Days." Beautiful, dramatic black and white representations of love and passion, loneliness and pain, and union. On the
front page there reads an inscription "FOR F."
ROBERT (V.O.)
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods... There is a rapture on the lonely shore... There is society where none intrudes... By the deep sea and music in its roar... I love not man the less, but Nature more... From these our interviews, in which I steal... From all I may be, or have been before... To mingle with the Universe and feel... What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."
The quote is Byron's. She smiles with pride as she cries.
CUT TO:
EXT. IOWA LAKEFRONT - EARLY MORNING
Michael sits with his arm around Carolyn as they look out over the lake. The notebooks are closed, but Francesca's
narrations continue over the next few scenes.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
There has not been a day since that I have not thought of him. When he said we were no longer two people, he
was right.
INT. JOHNSON BEDROOM
Carolyn, looking through her mom's closet, finds the summer dress she bought in Des Moines to wear for Robert.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
We were bound together as tightly as two people can be. If it hadn't been for him, I don't think I would have lasted on the farm all these years. Remember that dress of mine you wanted, Carolyn -- the one you said I never wore. Well, I know I was silly. But to me, it was as if you were asking to wear my wedding dress to go to the movies.
Carolyn smiles as she holds the dress before her.
INT. MOTEL - DAY
A tired Michael finds his way through the motel to his room.
FRANCESCA (V.O.)
After reading all this, I hope you can now understand my burial request. It was not the ravings of some mad old lady. I gave my life to my family. I wish to give Robert what is left of me.
INT. MOTEL ROOM
Michael enters to find his two children watching TV and an angry Betty folding clothes.
CHILDREN
Hey, Dad!
He looks at them lovingly, then at Betty who angrily motions for him to follow her into the bedroom.
She slams the door behind him and talks in a irate whisper.
BETTY
You have been out all night long! Do I have a right to ask where you've been or is this a family secret?
Michael just looks at her. He gently takes her hand.
MICHAEL
No. No more secrets.
He kisses her hand. Betty is floored.
MICHAEL (cont'd)
Do I make you happy, Betty?
(she is stunned)
Because I want to. I want to more than anything.
