Script Analysis: “Barney’s View” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: Barney’s Version. You may download the script here.

Screenplay by Michael Konyves, novel by Mordecai Richler.

IMDb plot summary: The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.

Barney’s Version
Scene By Scene Breakdown
Written by jem
GoIntoTheStory.com

P.1: Drunk on Scotch and smoking a Montecristo cigar, BARNEY dials the phone. A man answers (BLAIR in V.O.) and reveals it’s 3 AM. Barney: “Put my wife on the phone.” Blair (V.O.): “She’s not your wife…” Barney taunts Blair, asking him if he wants his old nude photos of Miriam: “…to see what Miriam looked like in her prime.” Dial tone. Reveal photos of Barney and Miriam, none of them nude.

P. 1–2: Next morning, Barney (60s) gets the newspaper. Upset by the front page. Inside, he sets the paper down. Newspaper blurb: “Book Review: Detective Sean O’Hearne writes his own account of the scandal that rocked the city 30 years ago…” Includes an old picture of Barney in handcuffs.

P. 2–4 : Ten missed messages on answering machine. From KATE (daughter) and MICHAEL (son). Cell phone rings. Its Kate, revealing Blair had a heart attack last night. Barney jokes and shows only a smidgen of sympathy. Kate: “Are you not concerned that you might of caused this?” Barney doesn’t remember, then “That triggers a distant alcohol fogged memory. DING. The elevator arrives… Barney “filled with glee at this news”. With Barney now driving, Kate reveals Blair’s chest pains preceded the call and the phone call woke Miriam, who then took Blair to the hospital. Changing topic, Barney asks if she’s seen the paper. She did. Barney says he’s fine.

P. 5–6: Totally Unnecessary Productions personal parking spot. Watching a live recording of his show, a soap opera, Barney finds it painfully bad and then complains about SOLANGE’S outfit, which is “inappropriately low cut and tight for a woman her age, but she works it like she’s still the cat’s meow.” She spots Barney: “Don’t you run away from me!” Solange gets stopped by the sound guy to remove her mic.

P. 6–9: MARK and four executives follow Barney. Ask if he saw the paper and Mark says, “Barney, the network wants to make a big deal about the 30th season.” It’s in a year. Network wants to bring in someone younger to replace Solange. Barney refuses to even think it about; she’s been there since day one. Mark says the network is threatening to end the show, if not done. Solange bursts into the room, slamming press clippings from Bulgaria on his table, proving she has “worth to the foreign market”. Solange pushes the executives out. Her hard tone softens. Solange: “I feel like everyone is laughing at me. Tell me honestly, how do I look?” Barney says, “ You look like you’re the reason we’re still on the air. Sexy as hell.” She asks how he is (re: paper), and then she storms out for effect.

P. 9–11: Barney at Grumpy’s Bar. DECTIVE SEAN O’HEARNE gives Barney a signed copy: “With Friends Like These”. O’hearne’s drunk. Barney puts peanuts in the flap and slams it shut, pushing it back. O’Hearne wants to know what Barney did with the body already. “Because he got away with murder…You screwed over everyone you ever knew or cared about, and now the whole world is going to know what a cocksucking murderer you really are.” Cover photo of Barney and his best friend Boogie.

P. 11–15 Flashback — Title: Rome 1975
Barney, CEDERIC RICHARDSON (African American actor), LEO FASOLI (Italian artist) party outdoor restaurant. Leo quotes Shakespeare, “be great in act, as you are in thought.” BOOGIE arrives, with a beautiful girl. Revealed: Leo’s art showing was a bust — sold one piece, to Barney; Barney’s getting married. CLARA, three months pregant, smokes and drinks. Barney: “Where have you been? You didn’t come home last night.” She responds with anti-semantic razzing. After a toast to the soon to be newlyweds, they both soften, and she curls up on Barney’s lap.

P.15–18: Boogie questions why he’s even marrying Clara and asks how does he even know he’s the father. It’s the end of the night; everyone heads off to bed (Boogie’s girl with Cedric), but Boogie takes Barney with him. At Boogie’s room, sprawled out with drug paraphilia and Scotch, Barney reads Boogie’s manuscript. Barney finds it brilliant. Boogie reveals he’s had an affair with the editor’s wife. Barney tells him “to stop dicking around and finish your book already.”

P. 18–20: Wedding day. Clara now seven months pregnant. Boogie: “you don’t have to go through with this.” At the magistrate’s office. It’s revealed Clara’s last name is actually Charnofksy, not Chambers. She tells Barney that she was married to a Russian gangster for five days, never changing her name back. Sarcastically responding to Barney: “Only two [fake kids he doesn’t know about] — Yosel and Chaim. They’re locked in our attic. When you’re out getting the hockey scores I let them down and force feed them pork roast milkshakes through a funnel.” Married. “Mazel Tov!”

P. 20–21: Barney and Clara. Poems, sketches and paintings all around the apartment. She peels a banana from the wrong end. Crazy Clara does have “her odd charms”.

P. 21–22: Barney at the hospital, speaking with a doctor. Tells Barney that the baby was a stillborn, but Clara is healthy. He also reveals that the baby was black. Barney enters Clara’s room. She sketches a picture of Barney, who is angry and hurt. Clara makes insensitive remarks and yells to Barney on his way out, “I won’t let you divorce me!” Barney sucker punches Cedric and walks off.

P. 22–23: At their apartment, Clara and Barney agree on terms for the divorce. Clara: “Now you can finally go back home, tongue your way into proper society and find yourself a nice Jewish girl — someone who shops.” She kicks him out, but then begs for Barney to return. He doesn’t.

P. 24–25: Barney at Boogie’s room. Barney reveals that his uncle Irv offered him a TV production job in Canada. Barney then finds a handwritten note from Clara: “…Please come for dinner tonight…I’m sorry…I need you. I’ll even make latkes…” Boogie tells him it’s a few days old and he forgot about it. Disgusted, Barney runs out. Barney arrives at Clara’s. Finds a candle light dinner that is days old (latkes on the stove). Clara dead on the bed. Sleeping pills. Her poetry and sketches all over the room.

P. 25–28: Pounding on the door. It’s CHAIM CHARNOFSY — Clara’s father. An orthodox Jew from NYC. Stepping inside, he sees the sketch Clara started in the hospital of Barney as “Satan…ravishing a pregnant…Clara”. Charnofsy and Barney drink Scotch. Charnofksy reveals Clara’s backstory: Clara tried to kill herself before; when she was twelve she would scream, “I’m not Jewish, “you’re not my parents”; her parents force fed her chicken soup through a funnel; slept with black boys to spite her parents; parents locked her in the attic; saw a doctor, who she claimed was molesting her. [note: the lines about two children Yosel and Chaim during the wedding]. Pissed off at what he hears, Barney kicks Charnofsky out. Charnofsky throws the blame back on Barney: “…dead two days before you found her…Where were you her loving husband?!”

P. 28–30: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Barney cooking his kitchen. Calls his son, asks what the thing is to strain pasta. A Colander. Then Michael brings up O’Hearne’s book, which Barney lies about having read. Caroline, Michael’s fiancée, comes home. Michael’s gotta go. Barney fixes a Scotch and sees a photo of his uncle Irv Nussbaum.

P. 30–34 : Flashback — Title: MONTREAL 1975
IRV NUSSBAUM teaches Barney how to close a target for fundraising for Israel, giving him his bulletproof spiel. Through FLASH FOWARDS: Barney goes from green to a closer. Barney is now closing the same clients for TV producing at a cocktail fundraiser. Irv introduces Barney to the SECOND MRS.
P — “The ultimate JAP”. [note: JAP — Jewish American Princess.] The two hit it off.

P. 34–36: Barney and IZZY, Barney’s blue-collar cop father, have dinner at Second Mrs. P’s parents mansion. Izzy brings a bottle of Scotch as a gift and mistakes the housekeeper with one of the In-Laws –“Mazel Tov!”. It’s an awkward dinner with the stuck up IN-LAWS. Even more so when Izzy tells a story about him on the job, roughing up a “degenerate”. Izzy felt that as a Jew in the force, he faced anti-Semitism. The father-in-law says perhaps his career was “stunted” by his behavior on the job and not by “imagined prejudices.” But Izzy diffuses the tension with a toast: “To the blessed match of our lovebirds. You never know what tomorrow brings. So get to shtupping and multiply already.”

P. 36–37: Barney picks up Boogie, who looks rough. Boogie repeats similar lines he said to Barney at his first wedding: “Want to go through with this? We can turn around and be on a flight to Rome in a few hours — no questions asked. Lunch at Dal Bolognese on me.” Barney a bit disappointed he has tickets to the Stanley Cup but can’t go.

P. 37–39: Extravagant Ritz Carlton reception. Hora with Barney and Second Mrs. P; Barney gets a bit queasy. Izzy is caught gazing at a beautiful women by Father-In-Law. Cedric, Leo, and Boogie toast Father-In-law: “Mazel Tov!”. Barney does shots while watching the game on a TV behind the bar. Boogie joins Barney, Izzy and friends at the bar. Shots and more shots. Father –In-Law disgusted.

P. 39–41: Second Mrs. P shoves Barney towards Izzy, who’s telling an inappropriate story to the Rabbi and other guests. Izzy is being Izzy and quite enjoying himself. Barney gives his father a big hug. As wedding present, Izzy gives Barney his first gun.

P. 41–42: Izzy and Barney at the bar, but the bartender was told by Father-In-Law neither was to have any more to drink. Barney: “where is that asshole?” Barney off to confront the Father-In-Law, but catches a glance at MIRIAM GRANT. “Barney is mesmerized” but interrupted by Father In Law, which Barney tells him off: “Don’t ever tell my father what he can or cannot do again”. Then he sets off for Miriam.

P. 42–44: Barney introduces himself. She notices his Moneticisto cigar and lights it for him, and then tells Barney how the cigar got its name. After asking Barney who’s winning the hockey game, Barney asks, “Are you doing anything later? We can still catch the flight to Rome. Lunch at Dal Bolognese on the Piazza del Popolo”. She reminds him it’s his wedding day today and has to get back to New York anyways.

P. 44–45: Barney scoffs down Scotch, sitting with Boogie who says, “I’ll never miss any of your weddings”. He hands Barney a note: “CANADIENS 2 BRUINS 1 IN OVERTIME. CONGRATULATIONS. MIRIAM.” Barney tells Boogie he’s in truly in love for first time ever; 2nd Mrs. P overhears this and drapes her arms around Barney, mistakenly thinking he is speaking about her.

P. 45–47: Barney dashes outside into the street, which is filled with people and cars celebrating the hockey victory. Barney runs to Central Station, spots Miriam reading “Herzog”, and sits next to her. He wants to run away together: “I can’t believe this really happens. It really does, just like that. And I don’t care if it happened on my wedding night, at a funeral, on my death bed. it’s happened.” She tells him he’s crazy and to go home, and since he doesn’t have a ticket, he’s kicked off. He runs alongside the train and gets Miriam to smile.

P. 47: Back to the mansion. Barney’s a mess. Second Mrs. P and her parents tell him they thought he was dead. Barney’s wedding present gun falls out of his jacket.

P. 48–51: Barney and 2nd Mrs. P on their honeymoon in Rome. Out shopping together, Barney is glum and ill-tempered. Back at their room, Barney reads the sports section while she speaks to her mother over the phone. After she hangs up, Barney asks about Miriam in an indirect manner and is relieved to find out she’s not in a relationship. 2nd Mrs. P performs oral sex, but Barney doesn’t exactly enjoy it.

P. 51–54: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Biography of Clara Chambers is featured in window display. The sketch she made of Barney drawn as Satan is the cover. Kate is distraught and tells him he upset mom; It’s time to lay off Blair. “He stole her from me.” Kate: “No he didn’t. You got divorced. She got remarried.” She tells him it’s time to let it go, and she’s happy with Blair. Barney forgot where he parked a car. Kate reminds him he took a cab.

P. 54: Barney at the cottage, relaxing with a Scotch and Montecristo. He’s reading “The Life of Heinrich Heine” when hears a twin engine airplane…

P. 54–56: flashback 1978
Solange, a young knockout, cries after a scene that reminds her of her dead fiancée, who died in an plane crash. Barney tells the insensitive director to shut up. Miriam calls! She tells him to stop sending flowers and gifts, that she won’t be involved with a married man. Barney throws “be great in act, as you have in thought” back onto her, reinterpreting his behavior as endearing not reckless. Barney tells her he’s so happy she called.

P. 56–58: Barney’s modern house with Second Mrs. P, who’s talking to her mother over the phone while Barney reads the sports section. Shopping bags across the floor as she hangs pictures. She pulls out Clara’s painting of Barney as Satan. She wants it thrown out. Barney says he will take it to the cottage. Things aren’t well between the two. He says he’s gotta go to pick up Boogie.

P. 58–61: At a motel. Boogie emerges looking like a junkie. Reveal: Boogie came to kick his drug habits at the cottage. Arriving at the cottage, 2nd Mrs. P on porch. Surprise. Inside, 2nd Mrs. P confronts Barney with a bill from the florist. He’s been delivering roses to someone in New York every week. She doesn’t buy his lies. The next morning, she finds his note: “ Had to go into town for the day…”.

P. 61–64: Grumpy’s bar. Barney tells Izzy he wants a divorce. Izzy is first against it, but sees Barney’s truly in love with someone else. Izzy: “Alright, let’s do this.” Barney calls 2nd Mrs. P and tells her he’ll be back tomorrow. She accuses him of being with his “whore”. And she’s pissed he’s leaving her with the “junkie”.

P. 64–66: At the cottage the next morning. Barney walks in on Boogie and 2nd Mrs. P having sex. Barney shocked but then smiles in disbelief at his good fortune. 2nd Mrs. P blames Barney. Barney says they’re getting a divorce. 2nd Mrs. P then accuses him of planning it. Barney: “Ha! I’m going to kill him for this then I’ll come for you, and just for kicks, your mother after that!” 2nd Mrs. P leaves.

P. 66–71: Boogie’s already drunk. Pours Barney a Scotch. Barney is hurt: “I should kill you for this.” Barney asks him to testify in his favor. Boogie accuses of him of planning it. Boogie looking for more Scotch, finds Barney’s gun. Later, both wasted. Boogie tells barney a new auditorium at Barnard named after Clara. Barney signed residuals from her books over to charity. Boogie says the Barney as Satan painting is probably worth a lot. Barney asks if he’ll testify: “You owe me.” Boogie tells him he’ll think it over, first he’s going snorkeling. Barney calls Boogie a fraud for not finishing his novel. Boogie is not happy with what Barney’s become either. He then reveals he slept with Clara and will sleep with Miriam too. Both wrestle, but both are too drunk. Boogie quotes from “The Life of Heinrich Heine”: “who was begged by his loved ones to ask for God’s forgiveness before he passed… God will forgive, his fucking job.” Barney tells Boogie he’s too drunk to go into the water. Barney fires a warning shot. Barney warns him again, and then Barney trips, with the gun going off, and Boogie falling backwards into the water. We can’t be sure what happened. Boogie doesn’t resurface.

P. 71–75: Barney hits the bottle hard. Passes out. He awakens to the sound of a twin engine airplane flying hillside. Barney calls out to Boogie. The next morning, the police are all over the property and lake. A younger O’hearne tells Barney it’s a busy day, this and a nearby fire that has burned twenty cottages so far. O’hearne tells Barney his story doesn’t make sense. O’hearne drinks a beer while questioning Barney. O’hearne disgusted by Clara’s sketch. Tells Barney he found his gun with two bullets missing. “…after you caught him fucking your wife?” Once O’hearne brings up Miriam, Barney tells him to leave her out of it, even grabbing him; O’hearne beats on Barney, demanding to know where the body is. Izzy rushes in and throws O’hearne off Barney. “He’s going down for murder.” Izzy: “…missed one tiny detail; you don’t have a body. Now you got anything else to say, talk to his lawyer.”

P. 75–77: o’hearne on TV. 3 weeks gone by with no body. At work, Barney is handed the divorce papers. He runs to the nearest phone and calls Miriam. He begs her for a lunch date.

P. 77–78: Barney arrives in NYC. Tries on different outfits. Writes down conversation topics: All the President’s Men; Herzdog (note: book Miriam was reading on the train); Alphonse Daudet. He then orders room service for 2 o’clock. Downs two mini scotches, again and again. Nervous and drunk.

P. 78–81: Seated. Drunk, nervous, sweaty. Barney goes to the bathroom. Pats himself dry and takes deep breath. Returning to his seat, he spots Miriam. His nerves and the alcohol get the better of him; he can’t remember the conversation pieces and becomes tipsy. He bolts for the men’s room. Back in his bathroom suit, Miriam shuts door for him as he throw up. Later, Miriam reading. Barney awakens. Embarrassed. Even more so when she finds his conversation topic list and calls him out for thinking he’d get her up there. He begs her not to leave. Instead, she suggests they go out for fresh air and pizza.

P. 81–83: Barney tells her why NYC is called the big apple. Central park stroll, keeps talking, he admits he’s afraid if he shuts up she’ll leave. She doesn’t. Now at East River, Miriam tells Barney how she adored her father, her hero, that is until she found out he was sleeping with every factory girl. It devastated her mother. Barney tells her he’d never do that to her. He’d do anything for her, which scares but she believes him too. They embrace and kiss.

P. 83–84: A small wedding ceremony at the cottage. Closest friends and family. Izzy is happy: “Mazel Tov!” Staring out into the lake, Barney with Miriam: “He promised he’d never miss any of my weddings.”

P. 84–85: Barney chops an onion. Eyes filled with tears. Miriam tells him to “put it in the freezer for a few minutes. Then it won’t make you cry.” Michael, only a few months old, is asleep in his crib. They make love. A SERIES OF STILL IMAGES MOVE US FORWARD IN TIME. Then Barney and Izzy drinking scotch, smoking cigars at the cottage. Miriam playing with kids. Izzy with a proud smile: “You did good, kid”.

P. 85–88: Barney and Michael, now 13, fishing. Stranded. Barney pulls the cord too hard and it detaches. Blair on a canoe rescues them and tows them back to land. Now back at the cottage, it’s revealed that Blair just moved from NYC where he used to do radio, just like Miriam, and the two even share an acquaintance. They offer him dinner but he declines. Before leaving he fixes Barney’s boat. Miriam says that was nice; Barney grunts half heartedly.

P. 88–91: BACK TO PRESENT
Barney chops an onion, crying again. He listens to Miriam on the radio: “end our program with a request from our regular listener, Alphonse from Montreal: Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End Of Love”.”(Note: Alphonse from the conversation topic list). Michael calls. On his way there, he sees a young couple where he and Miriam shared their first kiss. At Michael’s, they watch hockey together. Caroline comes home and is pissed at the mess. Barney tells him he knows she hates him, that he found O’hearne’s book by her bedside table. He asks Michael if he thinks he killed Boogie; Michael responds: “Only you really know”, which devastates Barney.

P.91–95: Flashback.
Miriam: “Honey doesn’t go bad.” Miriam’s old intern on TV. She hints she wants to go back to work. Autumn. Michael off to college. Barney tells him he loves him. At the Ritz Carlton for lunch, Miriam tells Barney she wants to go back to work. Blair can get her freelance work, which can lead to an opportunity. Barney feigns he’s behind her 100 percent.

P. 95–97: Miriam on the air as Blair watches. Terrific show. Excited, she calls Barney. Not at home. At Grumpy’s Bar watching hockey, and he doesn’t hear his ringer. Later, tiptoeing to bed, drunk. Miriam asks where he’s been. The interview was important to her and she’s upset he missed it for a hockey game he’s seen a thousand times. He asks if he should sleep on the coach. Miriam: “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You’re not sleeping on the sofa, we don’t sleep apart. Good night.”

P. 97–98: Izzy and Barney at the cemetery. Izzy places a rock on his wife’s headstone. Barney asks him to come live with him and Miriam now that the kids are gone. Thanks but no thanks. Barney doesn’t want him to be alone. Izzy: “Buried alone. No wife. No kids. That’s alone. I’m going to be right here with your mother. When you get to my age you’ll see what a comfort that is.”

P. 98–99: Miriam has friends over, including Blair. With Scotch in hand, Barney is bored out of his mind and lights a cigar at table. Miriam won’t let him smoke at the table because it might upset Blair’s asthma. He goes into the den. Later, he crawls into bed with Miriam. Exhausted. The phone rings.

P. 99: At an “old school ‘rub and tug’ massage parlor”. A girl being consoled. Barney is led into room where Izzy lays dead on the table in a white sheet. A peaceful, half-grin on his face. Barney finding the humor in the situation, laughing and crying. Barney holds Izzy’s hand to Barney’s forehand.

P. 100–102: BACK TO THE PRESENT. Barney stares blankly at an onion in freezer, puts it back. Gets ice for his scotch. Playing Scrabble with Kate. “ATTNY” for Attorney. She thinks he’s just tired. He comforts her over her recent breakup. She gets up to go to the bathroom, Barney looks at Leo’s painting (Note: the one he bought in Rome)…

P.102–103: Flashback
Miriam interviewing Leo, now much older. Leo’s young girlfriend and Barney and Blair watch on. During the interview it is revealed that Leo was offered a seven figure deal to publish his autobiography, but he didn’t do it because it was more difficult than he anticipated. After the interview, Barney escorts Leo out and thanks him for the favor.

P. 104–106: Barney, Blair, and Miriam have dinner. Barney broods in silence, drinks his Scotch. Blair reveals he’s trying to get job in New York. Barney pushes him to be more aggressive. With Miriam away from the table, he lies to Blair about Miriam thinking he’s gay. After Blair is gone, Miriam is angry about the gay joke. And getting Leo for a guest doesn’t fix the other times he’s missed. She tells Barney she’s going to visit Michael, alone, that a little time apart will do them both good. It’s only a week. Big print: “Barney nods but he’s not happy about this. Actually, he’s scared to death. She gives him a kiss and exits.”

P. 106–109: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Barney in a taxi sees drapery: “ “LEO FASOLI — IN MEMORIAM. A RETROSPECTIVE.” At the TV productions, Barney tells the receptionist to report his car was stolen. She tells him it was parked in parking lot and hands him the keys. On the soundstage with Solange the director now, the cast and crew wrap the first episode of the 30th season. Celebration but Barney escapes into his office. Solange comes in, but Barney’s frustrated and angry and doesn’t want to talk. Solange reveals she’s gotten over her fear of flying and is going to Bulgaria. Barney finally snaps, telling Solange she’s an hundred and eighty year old idiot, that no one over there gives a damn about her. Solange on the verge of tears. Onlookers ask what’s wrong with him. Barney tells them his friend Leo just died. Solange tells Barney that Leo died over a year ago.

P. 109–110: Flashback: replay of the opening of the movie. Front page headline: “LEO FASOLI, FAMED ITALIAN PAINTER, DIES AT 66.” This is what Barney was reacting to, not the article about O’Hearne’s book we previously saw in the bathroom.

P. 110–111: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Solange: “You were a pallbearer at his funeral.” Off Barney — confused. At DR. MANDEBAUM’S. Barney’s memory is tested… can’t remember the kind of car he drives.

P. 112–114: Flashback
Barney calls Miriam, who is at Michael’s. He wants her to come home and tells her he bought their cemetery plots, that he can’t be without her and had to get that settled. Miriam taken aback. She says she’s enjoying the weekend with her son and they’re going out with Blair for a meal. Blair took Barney’s advice and they called him for a final interview. Barney’s upset and worried.

P. 114–115: At Grumpy’s Bar. Barney’s drunk. He meets an attractive woman who was on his show a few years ago, a small part. He sleeps with her. Panicked at his bad choice, he bursts into Dr. Mandebaum’s. Demands a STD test.

P. 115–117: driving home from the airport with Miriam. He bought flowers and a welcome home card. Miriam is happy to be home, but notices Barney acting strange. The phone rings. Barney takes the call — it’s the test results; Miriam says she’ll be waiting in the bedroom — “naked.” Relieved by the good news he goes into the bedroom. Miriam is crying and says she star 69 the number because he was acting so strange. She’s trembling and terrified, expecting Barney to reveal he’s dying. He tells her what he did. They’re both devastated. The life they had together is now gone.

P. 117–118: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Kate crying and hugs Barney. She knows about the Alzheimer’s. Barney says he hasn’t told her mother yet. Later, looking at photo and items of old nostalgia, he listens to Miriam’s radio show. Miriam’s V.O: “a request from our ever faithful listener, Alphonse, all the way from Montreal.” Kate walks in with Barney’s Scotch: “Here you go, Alphonse.”

P. 118: Flashback
Barney is moving out. Michael and Kate help unpack. Michael is angry at Barney, goes as far to say he wishes he wasn’t his father. Barney slaps him, shocking everyone in the room.

P.119–120: BACK TO PRESENT DAY. Barney destroys the den. Kate rushes in. Telephone in hand: “I can’t remember your mother’s number.”

P.120: TITLE: 6 MONTHS LATER

120–123: Solange arrives at Barney’s. She fixes his tie for him and says it’s time to get going. Barney at Ritz Carlton, sitting at his table. Miriam approaches. Barney jokingly talks about his crib notes in case he gets lost. Miriam says she’s been researching clinical treatments, but Barney says they both know where this is going. Miriam: “I’m here for you if you’ll let me. We had a beautiful marriage, but it’s over. I want you to be at peace with that. Barney: “Have I ever given up when it come to you?… So what makes you think I would start now?” Later, both eating chocolate cake. Barney forgets which to utensil to use. Miriam helps him. Miriam excuses herself to the ladies room. Cries.

P. 123–124: Miriam comes out, Barney is gone. The waiter tells her that he paid bill but forgot his wallet. Miriam finds the note she gave him on the first night they met on his wedding day. She finds Barney standing exactly where they first met. Barney behaves as if they’re still married with the kids in school. He’s concerned why Miriam looks so shaken up, and he tenderly hugs her. Miriam decides not to “shatter his fragile reality” and says, “Let’s get you home.”

P.124: Title: ONE YEAR LATER

124–125: on TV — news report. Found the remains of Boogie on a hillside. Pathologist finds that Boogie did not die from a gun shot. O’Hearne is surrounded by reporters and still insists that Barney is responsible, even though there were no gun wounds.

P. 125–128: Michael and Kate reading documents. Kate reveals/says to Michael: (1.) Barney was paying a guy to make up fake tabloid items for Solange, even had them faxed from Bulgaria. Kate is asked to keep it going and unknown to Solange. (2.)“Honey doesn’t go bad.”; (3. )Leaving Clara’s sketch to Second Mrs. P. It’s worth lots of money. (3.)They both agree to never sell the cottage. (4.) Leaving Miriam the city condo, the original painting by Leo, and the adjoining plot where Barney’s wish is for her to buried alongside him. Michael is upset, stating that it’s unfair to Blair. (5.) It’s also revealed that Barney left Boogie money to publish any original writings of his choosing when he should return. Michael says it doesn’t mean anything.

P. 128–129: Michael goes down to lake. Barney eating a banana from the wrong end. Michael gives him a cigar and lights it for him. Michael hears the rumbling of a water plane. A family playing in lake with a beach ball, which is swallowed up by the plane. The plane drops water and the ball along the hillside where Boogie’s remains were found. Epiphany for Michael. Barney watches too, but “his thoughts are a mystery to all.” Michael presses Barney’s hand to his forehead, just as Barney did with Izzy when he died. Kate watches in the background.

P. 129–130: Miriam carrying flowers to Barney’s grave. Reveals a double headstone: “BARNEY PANOFSKY 1944–2010”. Next to Barney: “ MIRIAM GRANT PANOFSKY”

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

If you’d like a PDF of the Barney’s Version script scene-by-scene breakdown, go here.

Major kudos to jem for doing this week’s breakdown.

For 100+ movie scripts broken down scene by scene, go here.

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