I think that he cut out the "let's face it" paragraph because the line was not necessary. Sera had just said that she had given so much to Ben. It didn't need to be emphasized. The characters were clearly aware of the relationship. Ben also looked a little guilty. I think that the changes after fuck you served to make the dialogue sound a little more natural. The repetition from Sera also made her seem more desperate. People often repeat things to make sure that their message gets across.

Satnam, I think both of your observations are good ones. One of the interesting trends we can discover by reading scripts in comparison to the movie versions is how many lines, even scenes get cut from script-to-screen process. Clearly in the editing process, the combination of what was shot and cut together works well enough making the extra lines and pages unnecessary. And while repetition is generally something we want to avoid, sometimes it is completely necessary, at least from a character's perspective, to make their point. So in the case of your latter point combined with today's Daily Dialogue, we have two instances in which the characters override what we typically try to do as screenwriters. Imagine if some teacher had proclaimed one day in class, "Two rules: You must always follow 'Less Is More'. Second, characters must never repeat themselves." Here are two cases where the exception proves - once again - there are no screenwriting rules. Story -- and characters -- trump all.

Best thing: the new scene starts with 'I'm ready for rice' and ends with him eating an ice cube. That's fucking perfect. Took out all the parenthetical directions, the 'folds her arms' stuff. 'Becoming angry' turns into the much more effective angry-with-a-smile. Also took out some shit they probably needed in a screenplay for a reader, but didn't need in a movie for a viewer. Ben's interpolation, for one. Mostly, though, the scene as filmed is Ben's, whereas written it's more Sera's. He's got the first line, and he--the rice/ice again--shows the dramatic movement.

So, Jay, per your astute observation, might we look at the arc of this scene going from rice... to ice? The ice business, not in the script. Instead in the script: "Ben doesn't say anything. He just stares a hole in his bowl of rice." The guess here is Cage improvised picking up the ice cube with the chop sticks. And that is the beauty of making a movie, where you can have little moments of serendipity that elevate a scene to make it special. Of course, the opposite is true, too, where everything can go to hell on the set!

Yeah, it's a whole and complete dramatic scene, three acts in two minutes. As written, starting with 'you're pretty sick,' there's no easy way to establish a failure in Act III of the scene. I mean, if the thesis is 'you're pretty sick' what's the antithesis? The scene doesn't stand as a whole. But if the 'goal' is 'I'm ready for rice,' you show him failing at that and bang. If Cage improvised the ice cube, I wonder where the first sentence came from. Answering an overt, spoken goal (that resonates; clearly, we're not talking about rice, here) with a subtle bit of action is utterly lovely. I'm going to scurry back to my script and look for all the places I didn't do this.

To me it shows what 2 Talented Actors can bring to words from a page...LOVE this Film...it was so sparse in spots, and beautifully so...

I haven't seen this film, so my impression of this scene is out of context and could be incorrect. But in the scene as written, Ben appears to have been affected in a small way by Sera's words. In the scene as filmed, he's not at all affected. What that does for the story at that point, I don't know, but the reactions or lack thereof are telling, at least.