[Based on the original script]
AMY
Deeper is good - where I come from, all you get is shallow.
AMY
I love the view you get here.
VIRGIL
Same here - I never get used to it.
JENNIE
So who's the girl?
VIRGIL
From the spa. I made her cry.
JENNIE
You haven't done that since--
VIRGIL/JENNIE
-- grade school.
JENNIE
I'm fine. Your dinner's ready -
chicken's at 3 o'clock - rice is at...
VIRGIL
6 o'clock, peas at 9 o'clock and news at 11.
[to Sophie, the dog]
VIRGIL
You know this girl - for one moment -
she actually thought I could...
I'm not kidding. And she had this great
voice-- relaxing-- soft like a breeze through.
Wonder what she thinks about "blind dates."
VIRGIL
Anyways, I was in the neighborhood -- actually
the whole town's my neighborhood -- and since
you've never been to our illustrious village, I thought
maybe we could go into town - see what we see.
AMY
See what we see?
VIRGIL
Figure of speech.
AMY
You mean right now, tonight?
VIRGIL
Great - I'm blind and you're deaf - what a pair.
VIRGIL
What else do you see?
AMY
A wall of shrubs - a field with
an interesting configuration of trees.
VIRGIL
Tell me how you see it.
AMY
OK, sure. Let's see - long and elegant.
Like -- like a woman dancing with two lovers,
trying to decide which one she loves. What?
VIRGIL
It's just - the image you just gave me -
"Dancing trees. - I like that.
VIRGIL
You like rain - I love the rain.
AMY
What were you just doing there?
VIRGIL
Listening - the rain - it brings out the contours
of everything, gives life to a room I can't see.
VIRGIL
No, listen for it - not what it looks like - what it becomes.
VIRGIL
The world is invisible to me - with my touch it comes alive.
But only one thing at a time. But when it's raining, I feel everything
at once. Sometimes, I wish it could rain inside.. rain all around us.
VIRGIL
I'm blind as a bat. Actually, blinder 'cause they emit sonar all
the time. I don't have a sixth sense, I just don't have the fifth one.
I can't hear things in Vermont, can't smell if you're mad at me, and,
no - I don't know Helen Keller, Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder.
AMY
I can tell he's sensing everything about me with a simple touch.
He listens to my every word as if it's the only sound on the
planet - I feel like even though he can't see me, he knows
everything about me. He just moves me - does that sound crazy?
BETSY
Does he have a brother?
VIRGIL
You want to skate?
AMY
Sorry, I didn't bring my skates.
VIRGIL
Don't need them. Come on step hold of my stick.
AMY
Excuse me?
VIRGIL
[smiles]
Hockey stick. Here.
AMY
I bat my eyelashes, toss my head just right,
and there's this very sexy thing I do with my
eyes - then realize none of it matters to you.
VIRGIL
Amy. I want the chance to see. The chance to see
Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, apples, raisins,
a buffalo, a carburetor and the man in the moon.
But I would give all that up - just to see this face.
JENNIE
I don't like Virgil getting hurt. Hope is like fire,
it can keep you warm - - or it can burn you.
DR. AARON
You know what they say, Virgil?
The eyes are the windows to the soul.
AARON
He's associating - one sense to the other. His
fingers tell his brain - then his brain tells his eyes and
he recognizes the image in front of him. He's seeing!
VIRGIL
I'm not blind anymore - and I'm not going to
let someone I care about walk out of my life again.
JENNIE
Amy - when Virgil was very young, he couldn't see those
close to him - so he never learned to reach out. Don't expect
him to reach out when he's in pain, or confused, or unhappy.
If you really care about him you have to just be there for him.
VIRGIL
This is just great - I don't believe this.
What's that saying - stop the world I wanna get off.
VIRGIL
Okay - so - this is what beautiful looks like.
VIRGIL
This is what rain looks like?
AMY
Yeah.
VIRGIL
It looks lonely. Not what I expected. But I like it.
WEBSTER
[reading]
"One must die as a blind person to be born again as a
sighted person. However it is the interim, the limbo-
-between two worlds, one dead/the other powerless
to be born - that is so terrible." There. You're in limbo.
WEBSTER
Perception - sight - life, is about experience - about
reaching out and exploring the world for yourself. It's
not enough to just see Virgil -- we've got to look as well.
VIRGIL
Go to work. If I need you - I have your number.
AMY
Screw work - let's go try those eyes
AMY
Do you ever wonder why you do the things you do?
VIRGIL
I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I've woken up from
a thirty year sleep - and the world's passed me by.
VIRGIL
I get up every morning - I look in the mirror - and I stare at a
total stranger. I stare and I stare - and no matter how hard I look--
I don't see Virgil there anywhere. And the more I look at you...
AMY
What? You don't see me?
VIRGIL
I saw you better when I was blind.
AMY
Well, you're not blind any more. I'm sorry if
that disappoints you. I've got a plane to catch. I'm
going to go before we say things we don't mean.
WEBSTER
Didn't get what you expected did you?
WEBSTER
Seeing people - for better or worse - deal with
everything all at once - taking in the whole picture - which
sometimes confuses the hell out of what they want. Virgil,
my advice after three beers - don't be afraid to take in the
whole picture - just don't lose sight of what you want.
DUNCAN
What happened to us Amy? You're so intent
on fixing everything - why'd you give up on us?
AMY
I learned some things can't be fixed. We got married
for all the wrong reasons. I don't think I fell in love
with you as much as I fell in love with architecture.
DUNCAN
I never fell in love with architecture -
but I know I fell in love with you.
AMY
Now - that's bullshit.
DUNCAN
It used to work.
AMY
Whatcha doing?
VIRGIL
It's the craziest thing. You start back over there - focus on a
building. And when you walk towards it - it changes - each step
makes it look different. I started out just looking for the horizon.
AMY
You can't see it from here - too many buildings.
VIRGIL
But it's still there - even though you can't see it -
right? You gotta have faith it's there. Things exist
beyond what I can see - I just have to take it on faith.
VIRGIL
Let me say this. Every day of my life -
I've wished for just one thing.
AMY
To see.
VIRGIL
To be whole. For just one month. For just one day or one
minute. For one goddamned half a second. And not just to be
able to run, or ride a bike, or drive a car. But for once not to have
a bruise from bumping into something or to stand in a room and
have to ask "is anyone here" and hear that dead silence, knowing
someone is there. Not to have food on my sweater, or have to put
my finger in my glass to know when it's full. I just want to be whole.
VOICE IN THE DARK
Mr. Anderson - is there something you were
surprised to see for the first time - something
that looked quite different than you thought?
VIRGIL
Breasts.
[laughter]
No, really. Don't get me wrong - I love them-
they just weren't what I expected.
VOICE
What about your girlfriend?
VIRGIL
Whose did you think I was talking about?
VIRGIL
This face - this is everything. It's all I've ever wanted to see.
You have so many looks. What do all those looks mean?
AMY
Well. Let's see. This... is sad. This...is frustrated. This... is tired.
This... is confused. This.. is happy. And this... is what in love looks like.
VIRGIL
So Ray? Is it better to have seen
and lost than never to have seen at all?
AMY
Virgil, what's happening?
VIRGIL
Just having a bad eye day.
AMY
Why the hell haven't you told me what was going on?
VIRGIL
You! Not letting it go - thinking there's a solution.
Goddamit, I'm not design flaw in your fucking work that
you can just change to make work Or throw away because
it doesn't meet your expectations. Let's face it - it's over!!
VIRGIL
Do you know the reason why I remembered the cotton
candy all those years? Because I went to the game with
my father. And it's the only good thing I can remember
about him. The rest is him pushing me to be something I'm
not - then turning his back on me the minute his plans fail.
VIRGIL
Jennie, what's at the end of Main Street?
JENNIE
Well - I think it's Vivian's little stationery...
VIRGIL
Beyond all the stores - past firehouse.
What happens when this is no more Main Street?
JENNIE
Well - there's nothing really - you know that.
VIRGIL
No! You told me that's all there was.
That's wrong. There's a helluva lot out there.
JENNIE
I told you what you needed to know.
VIRGIL
What was within my reach.
VIRGIL
Jennie, this place was a wonderful safe haven for me growing
up. I know that. And I can only imagine what you gave up
to keep this world for me. I thank you and love you from the
bottom of my soul. But now I want to give you your life back.
DUNCAN
Let me tell you something - you can't change people to solve
you. You tried to do it with me - you tried to do it with Virgil.
You ever think some of the things you try to fix - ain't broke.
[voice over]
VIRGIL
...I realized that our eyes aren't what make us see. We only live
in darkness when we don't look - look at what is genuine about
ourselves - genuine about others - you don't need eyes for that.
AMY
Virgil - when I first met you - you saw more than any sighted
person I've ever known. I didn't mean to take that away from you.
VIRGIL
Amy. I saw ... I actually saw the horizon. You did that for me.
It's out there. You showed me you just have to reach for it..
