Ben, Bart and Berenice

By Brigitte Paturzo

They have not known each other for long but have decided to embrace the unpredictability of life on the road, hoping to find what they never had.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brigitte Paturzo
• Release date: Jul 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798201872243

Brigitte Paturzo

Every winter for almost twenty years, Brigitte has traveled riding her camel through the Sahara of southeast Algeria and southwest Libya. She has learned Arabic, and Tamahaq, the Tuareg language. Her passion for both cultures comes from her childhood in Algiers.The desert inspires her. It is very present in her book “Between stones and skies in the Libyan Desert”, as in her stories for children, in which she relates the adventures of a young camel, Couscous, and which are illustrated with her own gouaches.Brigitte lives and works in Nice, France.

Book preview

Ben, Bart and Berenice

Feature Film Screenplay

by Brigitte Paturzo

Old, but ready for adventure, a woman and two men start their life anew by hitting the roads of the south of France on board a van. They have not known each other for long but have decided to embrace the unpredictability of life on the road, hoping to find what they never had.

Copyright 2023 Brigitte Paturzo

INT. BAR – EVENING

In a bar, three persons are drinking coffee sitting at a table.

BERENICE, 65 years old, wears a long, black dress, a brown coat and black ankle boots. Her brown hair is combed in a French twist.

BART, 57 years old, wears a blue woolen jacket, gray pans, and black loafers. His hair is short.

BEN, 52 years old, dressed all in black, is very thin in jeans, with a long coat and boots. He has long hair under his woolen hat.

BERENICE

You should’ve taken your guitar, Bart. We would have gone to the beach.

BART

No.

BEN

You would have played us something.

BART

No.

BERENICE

What does it mean? Is it Gloria?

BART

No.

BEN

What is it?

BART

It’s a hassle finding a place to play. It’s exhausting and not at all gratifying.

BEN

You have to be persistent that’s all.

BART

I’ve been persisting thirty years.

BEN

Well, you’re not in great shape, are you?

BART

I’m doing okay.

BERENICE

Who cares where you play? It’s the fun that matters.

BART

I don’t want to play on the street all my life.

BERENICE

What does Gloria say about that?

BART

She wants to be a star.

BERENICE

What are you going to do then?

BART

She threw me out yesterday.

BEN

Really?

BART

She doesn’t want to see me anymore.

BEN

She’s completely nuts.

BERENICE

Ben, you’re overdoing it.

BEN

No, Berenice, I’m not overdoing it. You haven’t met her. I’m telling you she’s nuts.

BERENICE

No, I haven’t met her. Bart’s so secretive when it comes to her.

BEN

Try ashamed.

Bart smiles and nods.

BART

She’s a shameful secret… Anyway, tomorrow night will be our last concert.

BERENICE

Really? Are you going to play?

BART

She begged the concert hall director so we could get prime time.

BEN

Do you think she’ll come if she doesn’t want to see you?

BART

Of course! The audience puts her in a trance.

Bart finishes his coffee and gets up.

BART

I went back to my mother’s, so I’ve got to go.

He takes some money out of his pocket and puts it on the table.

BEN

I’ve to get home too.

He gets up, followed by Berenice. They leave money on the table.

BERENICE

I’m getting up at dawn.

BART

So when are we getting together? Not tomorrow night. I’m playing.

BERENICE

After tomorrow I can’t.

BEN

So we’ll give each other a call?

BERENICE

Sure let’s do that.

They leave the bar.

INT. HOTEL – DAWN

A deserted front desk in the dark, with a lamp lit on the desk. The clock on the wall tells 6:40 AM.

In a small lobby a few meters away, a man is sitting on a sofa in front of the television. GEORGE, the 58-year-old night audit, sleeps with his mouth open.

The automatic glass front door opens, and Berenice comes in wearing a brown coat, a long, black dress, a bag over her shoulder, and a colorful scarf around her neck.

George jumps up and joins her at the reception desk. He is short, and his oversized jacket partly covers his hands. He is bald on the top of his head, but his hair falls down to his neck.

BERENICE

Good morning, George. How’s everything?

GEORGE

Hi Berenice. I’ve had quite a lot of trouble.

BERENICE

Again? Will it never end?

She takes her cell phone out of her bag and puts it near the computer on the desk.

GEORGE

The client in room 31 came down here in the middle of the night with two bed bugs squashed in a piece of toilet paper.

BERENICE

Shit! I’ve got to call Mister Marcel. What did you do with the bugs?

GEORGE

I threw them in the toilet, I hate those animals.

BERENICE

Yeah, me too. I’m itching all over just talking about them.

She hangs her bag, her coat and her scarf in the wardrobe and takes out a small purse that she carries over her shoulder.

GEORGE

I also had a customer from the hotel across the street around four o’clock in the morning.

Berenice locks the wardrobe, puts the key in her small purse with her cell, and looks at George.

GEORGE

She was entirely naked.

BERENICE

What do you mean, entirely naked?

GEORGE

She crossed the street naked and came here to hide because her boyfriend was beating her.

BERENICE

So what did you do?

GEORGE

I brought her back there and got their receptionist to call the police.

BERENICE

Why didn’t you just call the police?

GEORGE

I have plenty to do here as it is.

BERENICE

Well, is that everything? Is the cash register correct? I’d like to have a coffee.

GEORGE

The firefighters came around five in the morning. They told me that a neighbor from the building across the street had heard someone screaming, and that the screams were coming from here, on the fourth floor. I had to go into several rooms before finding where the screams were coming from. It was in room 49. A Japanese man was stuck outside on his terrace and shivering from the cold.

BERENICE

It’s those stupid slide windows. Why do they lock when you close them? So is that all now?

GEORGE

No. I keep hearing rats running in the drop ceiling.

Berenice lets out a long sigh.

BERENICE

Is the register all good, George?

GEORGE

The register is perfect.

He hands her some bills, which she counts. She puts them in her small purse.

BERENICE

I’m going to make myself some coffee. You can go George.

GEORGE

Thank you, Berenice.

He gets out of the hotel and waves, goes into his black Mercedes parked in front of the hotel and starts the car.

Dawn is breaking. On the other side of the street, herring gulls peck at garbage