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byRoselyne BoschREVISEDSeptember 23, 1991 FADE IN:CREDITS AND MUSIC OVER:INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - GRANADA - DAYWe start on a mans elegant slipper. He is seated in asplendid chair. Moving up the stocking leg, we pass thegarter of Castile, coming to rest on a pair of delicatehands. His fore finge
beautiful woman in her twenties, a calm, strong, domestic
personality. COLUMBUS tousles the BOY'S hair. FERNANDO
glances at his MOTHER but looks subdued and doesn't say
anything.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT
COLUMBUS joins BEATRIX in the kitchen, where a MAID is
cooking. He explains Fernando's subdued manner.
COLUMBUS
Executions. In the square.
BEATRIX nods. He goes to the stone butt and pours water
on his hands.
COLUMBUS
They've agreed to see me in a week.
BEATRIX puts the candle on the table. Her face lights up
with a smile. He walks to her, and kisses her.
COLUMBUS
I could be gone for years.
BEATRIX
I know.
COLUMBUS
I haven't given you much of a life.
BEATRIX
(amused)
Well... that's true. I have a child
by a man who won't marry me! Who's
always leaving...
COLUMBUS
Are we going to argue?
BEATRIX
I'd love to argue with you
sometimes. But you're never here!
They laugh and kiss.
COLUMBUS
Perhaps I was never meant to live
with a woman...
BEATRIX
(still kissing him)
I find that hard to believe.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - NIGHT
They are eating around the table, and FERNANDO is
unusually silent and thoughtful. COLUMBUS pours a little
wine into FERNANDO'S water, to distract him. FERNANDO
looks up at him, surprised. COLUMBUS smiles, then looks
over at BEATRIX.
COLUMBUS
Fernando, don't you think we are
lucky to live with such a beautiful
woman?
He winks at FERNANDO. BEATRIX smiles.
INT. BEATRIX'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT
The room is dark. As COLUMBUS approached the bed with a
candle, it illuminates the naked body of BEATRIX. BEATRIX
looks up at him intently. A drop of wax falls on her
skin. She flinches, murmurs...
They make love.
EXT. SALAMANCA UNIVERSITY - DAY
A medieval "campus". Students-novices are playing
"pelote", with basket-gloves and a hard ball. They run
with their robes tucked around their waist, revealing
white legs. Others are studying, reading, hurrying to
their class.
We find COLUMBUS watching the game from the steps above
the court. Others are waiting with him. A MONK comes
from a door, and looks around the group.
MONK
(hesitant)
Christopher Columbus?
INT. AUDIENCE ROOM - UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA - DAY
An El Greco painting. A tableau of twenty MEN sitting on
dark, sculpted seats. Candles throw a gloomy light on
their faces. Some are Churchmen, others are dressed in
bourgeois outfits.
Only one of them is richly dressed in the grand Spanish
fashion -- he is SANCHEZ, Treasurer of the House of
Aragon. A MONK (Don AROJAZ) holds a stick with an ivory
claw at the top. Languidly, he scratches his back -- his
off-hand manner only makes him more impressive than his
peers.
AROJAZ
You say Asia can be found by sailing
west?
COLUMBUS
Yes, your Eminence. The voyage
should not take more than six or
seven weeks.
AROJAZ
Unfortunately, Don Colon, that is
precisely where our opinions
differ...
(pause)
Are you familiar with the work of
Aristotle? Erathostene? Ptolemeus?
COLUMBUS
I am, Your Eminence
AROJAZ
Then you cannot ignore that
according to their calculations, the
circumference of the Earth is
approximately...
(he leans forward)
22,000 leagues or more. Which makes
the ocean... uncrossable.
He leans back, satisfied, and p
