One thing I'm taking away from this script analysis is the value of creating a network of characters around a Protagonist, each of whom provides a particular mini-narrative to explore the Protagonist's transformation. If we look at Eva-Ellen, Eva-Albert, Eva-Marianne, Eva-Chloe, and so on, each is a subplot, each with its own beginning, middle and end, each with its own portal into Eva's life. The more movies I see and scripts I read, the more I realize how important subplots are.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I really enjoyed this script. While reading, I was reminded by something Mike Nichols once said in an interview about metaphor: "It's in the story—it's as simple as that. The story either contains it or it doesn't. In between there are gradations. There are stories that seem to convey them but can't stand the pressure of the process or confrontation by the audience, and certain metaphors crack under that pressure. I said to [Anthony] Minghella, when I'd seen The English Patient, that I'd never seen a New York audience so still, so absolutely silent, during a movie. It was a very strong experience to be in that audience. And he said, "Yes, well—they sense purpose." That's a wonderful thing to say. And we do, as an audience, sense purpose. If there's a purpose inherent in a story, in the metaphor that is a given story, we do sense it and we can be tamed by it. An audience is a ruthless, Heartless, and unruly monster, and if it doesn't sense purpose then get out of its way, because it's going to be difficult—difficult to get the attention of, difficult to make laugh, difficult to carry along on the journey that is any particular story. But when your purpose is high and strong and an audience can sense it, they'll go pretty far with you." http://www.filmcomment.com/article/of-metaphors-and-purpose-mike-nichols-interview To me this story is a metaphor about relationships and what happens as someone ages into their latter years. It's about communication, needs, desires, compromises, etc. I felt that everything on the page was to serve a purpose. I'm not sure I understood every single bit and detail, but I did feel it.

THE OPENING (p. 1-7) Pages 1-2: EVA visits various massage clients, carrying with her a very large and cumbersome table. One man has horrible breath, another woman talks too loudly, another watches her struggle up a flight of stairs without offering to help. [Is this about communication issues (zoning out, not letting others know their honest feelings), and is the bad breath a ref. to p. 16: "Living with someone else is not easy. Peoples habits."] Pages 2: Eva’s 18-year-old daughter ELLEN watches Eva get ready to go to a party. We learn that Ellen is leaving for college soon. ["To a party with Sarah and Will so they don’t have to be alone." Really, so she won't be alone. p.84 Ellen:I’m guess I’m trying to feel a little separate, you know, to sort of prepare." She doesn't let her mother know her true feelings.] Page 3: Eva rides with her best friend SARAH and Sarah’s husband WILL to the party. [est. Will's pov: everything has to be fair] Sarah talks about firing her cleaner. Pages 4-7: At the party. Eva meets MARIANNE, a poet; they hit it off. [hints of Marianne and Eva's character: why did the girl from the gym leave so abrubtly (escape)?] Later in the evening, Eva also meets ALBERT. They also hit it off. They bond over the fact that they both have kids leaving for college in the fall and that only unattractive people have attended the party. [p.50 Marianne:I date sometimes, but it’s so hard to meet people. I’m not attracted to anybody." I'm not sure what the attractive theme is, but its found throughout: Eva's clients being attracted to her during the massage; Will mentions it; it's in the big print intros of Marianne and Eva...] END OF OPENING Page 8: Eva, Sarah and Will drive home from the party. Page 9: Eva walks into her house after the party. She checks in on her sleeping daughter. [Means everything to Eva. She "needs" her. Fears being lonely] Page 9: Eva drives Ellen and Ellen’s friend CHLOE to school the next morning. Eva calls out a student for littering. [What's this about? Used to contrast the inappropriate prying into Chole's sex life?] Pages 10-12: Eva carries her massage table into Marianne’s house. Eva loves Marianne’s house – it’s creative and spacious and perfect. [Eva thinks Marianne has the perfect life. Dream profession, beautiful home, style, etc. Envious] Marianne asks Eva to take off her shoes upon entering. [Setup] Eva massages Marianne. [Soothing contrast to other clients] Eva and Marianne chat about their dating life. [Needs to have humor. Deal breaker] They’re both divorced, they talk about their exes. [Shadow character?] They agree to meet again soon. Pages 12-13: Eva video chats with Sarah about Marianne’s enviable life. Sarah tells Eva that Albert, the man she met at the party, wants Eva’s number. Pages 13-18: Eva and Albert wait in line at a tragically hip restaurant. [Youth v.older] They chat comfortably. [job about the History of tv shows] He’s funny and so is she. Inside the restaurant, they haven’t run out of things to say. [Imagine the time it would save. ALBERT: Sometimes I think we should all just wear signs around our necks. Get it all out there. -- subtext: like checking off your list of needs and demands to see if a good fit] They bond over the very loud music and very dim lights. They talk about their divorces [Albert: because she tried very hard to domesticate me.-- changing the other to get your needs met], about how Albert’s a slob, about Eva’s lovely hands, about Albert’s particular guacamole habit [Setup], and about how Albert’s ex and Eva both love the Container Store. Pages 18 -20: Albert and Eva get some frozen yogurt. They make each other laugh. The show each other pictures of their daughters. Pages 20-21: In the car in front of Eva’s house, Albert tries to kiss Eva goodnight, she leans back. Pages 21-22: Eva enters her house and plops down next to her daughter Ellen and Ellen’s friend Chloe. Eva tells Chloe that she should have sex with her boyfriend if she wants to. [Chloe and Eva are needy. Is this related to the chatty woman in anyway? About the need to share personal stuff/vulnerabilities with inappropriate people?] Ellen is embarrassed by her mother’s obtrusive behavior. Pages 22-24: Eva watches Ellen and Chloe try on dresses for prom. Ellen is the typical teenager and doesn’t share much with Eva despite Eva wanting to know everything. Chloe’s mother, DEBBIE, comes out of the dressing room wearing the exact same dress as Chloe.[Setup and misdirection of the bad parent?] They fight. [Eva knits ?blanket?. Been doing it since Ellen was 5 and still unfinished. Still treats her like a 5 year old. Needs her.] Pages 24-25: Eva has finished massaging Marianne and they discuss their dating lives. Eva mentions Albert, how she likes him, but she never actually says his name. Pages 25-29: Eva brings a bottle of champagne to Albert’s neglected one-story house. [Ugly on outside, nice on inside] He’s wearing pajamas. They enjoy brunch. [Bread] They discuss their daughters, how they don’t want them to go to college, how they need hobbies. [Both fear being alone without their daughters; want them nearby instead of going away] At one point, she accidentally sees his penis; he’s embarrassed, makes a quick joke, and they quickly move on. Pages 29-32: They’ve taken the date outside. Again, they discuss their divorces. Albert’s ex just stopped caring about him and the marriage. She pulls out the weeds in his yard. She takes off her shoes, she rubs a blister; he’s grossed out by her feet but gets her a Band-Aid anyway. They talk about her massage business. They kiss for the first time. Pages 32: Albert and Eva lay in bed after having sex. They cuddle. END OF ACT 1

Here are my observations in bold and brackets, but I only had time to cover the first act. I built off of what Scott, Victoria, and Ali added in the other discussions.

jem, this is an absolutely profound observation from Nichols and by extension Minghella. When a story has that sense of purpose, we get caught up in it. And so interesting Nichols would link metaphor to purpose. I can see that. The writer understands what the metaphor is saying, the purposefulness of the metaphor. In fact, it's not really a metaphor unless it HAS that sense of purpose. Re Enough Said, I think you're interpretation is on the money: A little slice of life about Eva growing older amidst this set of relationships (back to my point about subplots, each one with its own purpose). And while I'm following this thread, it brings me to the title of the movie: Enough Said. I've been mulling that over: Why that title? What does it mean? And my mind went to two scenes in Act III. The first is at the airport where Eva and Peter say goodbye to Ellen as she finally departs for college. Check out how that scene resolves:

ELLEN I love you guys. Ellen hugs and kisses them both and after a beat, lets go of them. They stand there. Reluctantly they all turn around and head toward the security area. It’s takes an agonizing long time as Ellen gets her ticket checked, and she leaves them, going to the escalator. Eva tries to her best not to cry too much, Peter is doing the same. As Ellen ascends, she turns, seeing her parents grow smaller and smaller. And her parents, at last, see her disappear in the crowd. They turn, walking away. Eva breathes deeply and Peter puts his arm around her. PETER We made a fine person. Eva puts her arm around him as well and they walk out of the airport.

Hardly any dialogue, mostly just physical communication... and NO WORDS FROM EVA. Here is this big traumatic moment that has been looming over Eva like a shadow the ENTIRE STORY. And how does she process it? No words. This from a character who talks a LOT. So an example of Enough Said... now just be. Then the final scene with Albert. It's set up by the preceding visit she pays to Albert's house where Tess says: "He just really, really liked you." And Eva responded: "I just really liked him." Okay. That is ALL Eva needs to know. There are still FEELINGS there. On BOTH sides. So what does she eventually do? She goes BACK to see Albert. Enough said... now just do. It's a tiny little story and I've discussed, Eva goes through a relatively small change. But in these two key relationships -- Ellen and Albert -- she shows some progress. With Ellen's departure, she allows herself to just be. No words. And with Albert, she takes the initiative and just does something. jem, I feel a blog post coming on based on this Nichols quote. It's a huge point. I read so many scripts. And as I sit here thinking about in aggregate, I see the profundity of Nichols' words. The ones that REALLY grab me have got that sense of purpose. From the well-defined characters and their narrative destinies, to that feeling one gets when you know you are in the hands of a writer who knows what the hell they are doing. Contrasted to the scripts where it's just a series of events fitting some sort of plot paradigm or scheme. Of course, this all circles back to the characters, and most often the Protagonist. It's their narrative imperative which creates that baseline sense of purpose for a story. We see that even in an intimate story like Enough Said. So thanks for your comments. Got my mind hot-wired here in the middle of the night!

Ahhh lo quiero escribir en español... Some how I got the feeling that Eva needs to show no transformation at all, in order to assimilate the changes around her. How much everything flow and grow, by letting go. And how she resist to participate on it. I liked this contrast by not doing, nor deciding. See you next week, thank you all so much!

Victoria, no transformation compared to what we typically see in movies. But how she reacts to Ellen's departure, mute silence... how she asks Hal - finally! - to help her carry the massage table up the stairs... how she goes BACK to Albert a 2nd time post-breakup... don't those signify even the TINIEST of shifts in her psyche? Again I'll grant you, not like most mainstream movies where Protagonists go through significant metamorphoses. But still, a change nonetheless.

While I don't have a complete handle on the title, I feel like it's about characters who have spent most of the movie saying a bunch of nonsense and never the truth. In that sense, everyone has said enough, and at the end, it is time to be, or just say that one tiny sentence of truth. All Eva has to say to Hal is, "Do you think you could help me?" and all she and Albert have to say of their feelings is, "I've missed you." It's enough after all the complications of secrets, lies and bs. I also find the women's various careers to be important/symbolic/amusing. Eva is a massage therapist -- a career for someone who, stereotypically, is very grounded and in touch with their higher self, which is the exact opposite of where Eva starts. Sarah is a psychologist, someone who helps people speak their feelings, but is so passive-aggressive when it comes to her husband and housekeeper. And Marianne is a poet, a woman of words who offers "blessings" to strangers but never has a polite or giving thing to say.

mkm28, judging from your string of comments, I'd say you have a really good handle on this story. I love your take on the three women's occupations. Your point about Eva aligns precisely with mine (see one of my previous comments). And I think you're spot on re Sarah and Marianne. Interesting that all three are at odds in their personal lives with how one would think they would be based on their jobs. Disunity all around!

jem, I missed this comment from the other day. Excellent, as usual. Great to add to the commentary thread for future generations to come!