FADE IN
Act 1
EXT. SILVERSTRAND BEACH - 15:00
Blue sky. Walking down the steps, PETER sees a few SOULS.
PETER (V.O.): First time here since I've turned 68.
Later. Lying on a floating platform in the swimming area, PETER puts his hands to cover his face from the sunshine.
PETER (V.O.): Swimming and relaxing here, I feel like paradise on Earth.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Swimming is my favourite physical exercise. I've been staying true to myself.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Even if I've worries, they're cast away by the sea.
Peter rolls over to let his back facing the sun.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
INT. STUDY - EARIER TODAY
Smart phone in hand, Peter is checking a list of famous Russian authors.
PETER (V.O.): I've heard about some of their names and works.
Peter reads about Alexander Pushkin.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The poet married a talked-about beauty of Moscow. Rumours of an affair between his wife and a French military officer led to a duel between him and the officer in 1837.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In the duel, Pushkin was fatally wounded. He was just 37. Wasn't he an idiot in multiplying his pain and suffering?
Peter watches some video episodes. We see scenes of Audrey Hepburn and Peter Fonda acting in the 1956 film "War and Peace".
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Can romance save the world?
In Wikipedia, Peter is reading about the life of Leo Tolstoy.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One winter night in 1910, Tolstoy, at age 82, left home to escape from his wife's tirades.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But he died of pneumonia at a railway station a day later. Why couldn't he endure the challenge until a summer night? Wasting his life, wasn't he an idiot?
Peter watches a video clip about Fyodor Dostoevsky.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1849, at age 28, he was arrested and sentenced to death, but the punishment was commuted at the last moment.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In his work "The Idiot" which was published in 1869, Dostoevsky narrates his near-death experience.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Three minutes before execution, he begins to see life clearly for the first time, including how transient is a glimpse of sunlight can be.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): His deep love of the world makes him feel like exchanging possible roles with beggars so that he can continue to breathe the air and feel the wind.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Mere existence is infinitely precious.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Dostoevsky died in 1881 at the age of 59.
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yesterday, a good friend urged me to do medical check-ups.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Pain and sufferings are inevitable. At my age, I've already gone through a lot.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I believe a positive attitude can reduce anxiety and improve immune system.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): After all, is it better to be unhappy to know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's hard for me to change the way I think about it. Am I an idiot?
Peter swims back to the shore.
Act 3
EXT. SILVERSTRAND BEACH - 16:00
Leaving, Peter sees a man sitting on a beachside rock.
PETER (V.O.): Is he clearing his mind and refreshing his personality?
Peter captures the moment with his smart phone.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Even grief may pass gradually into tender joy. We shouldn't lie to ourselves and should know who we're.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We should be enchanted with simple things. Be kind to ourselves and others is all we need.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Only idiots won't understand and do all that.
Bright sun. Peter walks up the steps as OTHERS walk down.
THE END
FADE OUT
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