Quote from Film
WIDE SHOT. The lights go out all over the ship. Titanic becomes a vast black silhouette against the stars.
IN COLLAPSIBLE C: BRUCE ISMAY has his back to the ship, unable to watch the great steamer die. He is satatonic with remorse, his mind overloaded. He can avert his eyes, but he can't block out the sounds of dying people and machinery.
A loud CRACKING REPORT comes across the water.
CUT TO:
Near the third funnel a man clutches the ship's
rail. He stares down as the DECK SPLITS right
between his feet. A yawning chasm opens with
a THUNDER of breaking steel.
LOVEJOY is clutching the railing on the roof of the Officers' Mess. He watches in horror as the ship's structure RIPS APART right in front of him. He gapes down into a widening maw, seeing straight down into the bowels of the ship, amid a BOOMING CONCUSSION like the sound of artillery. People falling into the widening crevasse look like dolls.
The stay cables on the funnel part and snap across
the decks like whips, ripping off davits and
ventilators. A man is hit by a whipping cable
and snatched OUT OF FRAME. Another cable smashes the
rail next to Lovejoy and it rips free. He falls backward into the pit of
jagged metal.
Fires, explosions and sparks light the yawning chasms as the hull splits down through nine decks to the keel. The sea pours into the gaping wound--
CUT TO:
It is a thundering black hell. Men scream as monstrous machinery comes apart around them, steel frames twisting like taffy. Their torches illuminate the roaring, foaming demon of water as it races at them through the machines. Trying to climb, they are overtaken in seconds.
CUT TO:
The STERN HALF of the ship, almost four hundred feet long, falls back toward the water. On the poop deck everyone screams as they feel themselves plummeting. The sound goes up like the roar of fans at a baseball stadium when a run is scored.
Swimming in the water directly under the stern a few unfortunates shriek as they see the keel coming down on them like God's bootheel. The massive stern section falls back almost level, thundering down into the sea and pushing out a mighty wave of displaced water.
SEVERAL PEOPLE
We're saved!
Jack looks at Rose and shakes his head, grimly.
The stern goes up, past 45 degrees, then past sixty.
JACK
We have to move!
He climbs over the stern rail and reaches
back for Rose. She is terrified to move. He grabs her hand.
JACK
Come on! I've got you!
Jack pulls her over the rail. It is the
same placed he pulled her over the rail two nights earlier, going
the other direction. She gets over just as the railing is going HORIZONTAL,
and the deck
VERTICAL. Jack grips her fiercely.
The stern is now straight up in the air... a rumbling black monolith standing against the stars. It hangs there like that for a long grace note, its buoyancy stable.
Rose lies on the railing, looking down fifteen stories to the boiling sea at the base of the stern section. People near them, who didn't climb over, hang from the railing, their legs dangling over the long drop. They fall one by one, plummeting down the vertical face of the poop deck. Some of them bounce horribly off deck benches and ventilators.
Jack and Rose lie side by side on what was the vertical face of the hull, gripping the railing, which is now horizontal. Just beneath their feet are the gold letters TITANIC emblazoned across the stern.
Rose stares down terrified at the black ocean waiting below to claim them. Jack looks to his left and sees Baker Joughin, crouching on the hull, holding onto the railing. It is a surreal moment.
JOUGHIN
(nodding a greeting)
Helluva night.
The final relentless plunge begins as
the stern section floods. Looking down a hundred feet to the water,
we drop like an elevator with Jack and Rose.
JACK
(talking fast)
Take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into
the water. The ship will suck us down. Kick for the
surface and keep kicking. Don't let go of my hand.
We're gonna make it Rose. Trust me.
She stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder.
ROSE
I trust you.
Below them the poop deck is disappearing.
The plunge gathers speed... the boiling surface engulfs the
docking bridge and then rushes up the last thirty feet.
Where the ship stood, now there is nothing. Only the black ocean.
CUT TO:
Bodies are whirled and spun, some limp as dolls, others struggling spasmodically, as the vortex sucks them down and tumbles them.
Jack and Rose surface among them. They barely
have any time to gasp for air before people are
clawing at them. People driven insane by the
water, 4 degrees below freezing, a cold so intense it is indistinguishable
from death by fire.
A man pushes Rose under, trying to climb on top of her... senselessly trying to get out of the water, to climb onto anything. Jack PUNCHES him repeatedly, pulling her free.
JACK
Swim, Rose! SWIM!
She tries, but her strokes are not as
effective as his because of her lifejacket. They break out of the
clot of people. He has to find some kind of floatation,
anything to get her out of the freezing water.
JACK
Keep swimming. Keep moving. Come on, you can
do it.
All about them there is a tremendous wailing,
screaming and moaning... a chorus of tormented souls.
And beyond that... nothing but black water stretching to the horizon. The
sense of isolation and
hopelessness is overwhelming.
CUT TO:
JACK
Look for something floating. Some debris... wood...
anything.
ROSE
It's so cold.
JACK
I know. I know. Help me, here. Look around.
His words keep her focused, taking
her mind off the wailing around them. Rose scans the water, panting,
barely able to draw a breath. She turns and... SCREAMS.
A DEVIL is right in front of her face. It is the
black FRENCH BULLDOG, swimming right at her like a
seamonster in the darkness, it's coal eyes bugging. It motors past her,
like it's heading for
Newfoundland.
Beyond it Rose sees something in the water.
ROSE
What's that?
Jack sees what she's pointing
to, and they make for it together. It is a piece of wooden debris,
intricately carved. He pushes her up and she
slithers onto it belly down.
But when Jack tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost dumping Rose off. It is clearly only big enough to support her. He clings to it, close to her, keeping his upper body out of the water as best be can.
Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from the exertion. A MAN swims toward them, homing in on the piece of debris. Jack warns him back,
JACK
It's just enough for this lady... you'll push it under.
MAN
Let me try at least, or I'll die soon.
JACK
You'll die quicker if you come any closer.
MAN
Yes, I see. Good luck to you then.
(swimming off)
God bless.
CUT TO:
The boat is overloaded and half-flooded. Men cling to the sides in the water. Others, swimming, are drawn to it as their only hope. Cal, standing in the boat, slaps his oar in the water as a warning.
CAL
Stay back! Keep off!
Fabrizio, exhausted and near the limit,
makes it almost to the boat. Cal CLUBS HIM with the oar, cutting
open his scalp.
FABRIZIO
You don't... understand... I have... to get... to
America.
CAL
(pointing with the oar)
It's that way!
CLOSE ON FABRIZIO as he floats,
panting, each breath agony. You see the spirit leave him.
FABRIZIO'S POV: Cal in SLOW MOTION, yelling and wielding the oar. A demon in a tuxedo. The image fades to black.
CUT TO:
JACK AND ROSE still afloat amid a chorus of the damned. Jack sees a ship's officer nearby, CHIEF OFFICER WILDE. He is blowing his whistle furiously, knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.
JACK
The boats will come back for us, Rose. Hold on just a
little longer. They had to row away for the suction and
now they'll be coming back.
She nods, his words helping her. She is
shivering uncontrollably, her lips blue and her teeth chattering.
ROSE
Thank God for you Jack.
People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats.
WOMAN
Come back! Please! We know you can hear us, For
God's sake!
MAN
Please... help us. Save one life! SAVE ONE LIFE!
CUT TO:
HICHENS
They'll pull us right down I tell ya!
MOLLY
AW knock it off, yer scarin' me. Come on girls, grab
your oars. Let's go.
(nobody moves)
Well come on!
The women won't meet her eyes. They huddle into their ermine wraps.
MOLLY
I don't understand a one of you. What's the matter
with you? It's your men back there! We got plenty a'
room for more.
HICHENS
It you don't shut that hole in yer face, there'll be one
less in this boat!
Ruth keeps her ears covered and her eyes closed, shutting it all out.
FIREMAN HENDRICKSON
We should do something.
Lucille squeezes Cosmo's hand and pleads to him with her eyes. She is terrified.
SIR COSMO
It's out of the question
The crewmembers, intimidated by a nobleman,
acquiesce. They hunch guiltily, hoping the sound will stop
soon.
TWENTY BOATS, most half full, float in the darkness. None of them make a move.
CUT TO:
Jack squeezes the water out of her long coat, tucking it in tightly around her legs. He rubs her arms. His face is chalk white in the darkness. A low MOANING in the darkness around them.
ROSE
It's getting quiet.
JACK
Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get
the boats organized
Rose is unmoving, just staring into space.
She knows the truth. There won't be any boats. Behind Jack
she sees that Officer Wilde has stopped moving. He is slumped in his lifejacket,
looking almost asleep. He has died of
exposure already.
JACK
I don't know about you, but I intend to write a
strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about
all this.
He laughs weakly,
but it sounds like a gasp of fear. Rose finds his eyes in the dim light.
ROSE
I love you Jack.
He takes her hand.
JACK
No... don't say your good-byes, Rose. Don't you
give up. Don't do it.
ROSE
I'm so cold.
JACK
You're going to get out of this... you're going to go
on and you're going to make babies and watch them
grow and you're going to die an old lady, warm in
your bed. Not here. Not this night. Do you
understand me?
ROSE
I can't feel my body.
JACK
Rose, listen to me. Listen. Winning that ticket was
the best thing that ever happened to me.
Jack is having trouble getting the breath to speak.
JACK
It brought me to you. And I'm thankful, Rose. I'm
Thankful.
His voice is trembling with the cold which
is working its way to his heart. But his eyes are unwavering.
JACK
You must do me this honor... promise me you will
survive... that you will never give up... no matter
what happens... no matter how hopeless... promise
me now, and never let go of that promise.
ROSE
I promise.
JACK
Never let go.
ROSE
I Promise. I will never let go, jack. I'll never let go.
She grips his hand and they lie with their
heads together. It is quiet now, except for the lapping of water.
CUT TO:
Fifth Officer Lowe, the impetuous young Welshman,
has gotten boats 10, 12 and Collapsible D
together with his own boat 14. A demon of energy,
he's had everyone hold the boats together and is transferring
passengers from 14 into the others, to empty his boat for a rescue attempt.
As the women step gingerly across into the other boats, Lowe sees a shawled figure in too much of a hurry. He rips the shawl off, and finds himself staring into the face of a man. He angrily shoves the stowaway into another boat and turns to his crew of three.
LOWE
Right, man the oars.
CUT TO:
The beam of an electric torch plays across the water like a searchlight as Boat 14 comes toward us.
ANGLE FROM THE BOAT as the torch illuminates floating
debris, a poignant trail of flotsam: a violin,
a child's wooden soldier, a framed photo of a steerage family. Daniel Marvin's
wooden
Biograph camera.
Then, their white lifebelts bobbing in the darkness
like signposts, the first bodies come into the
torches beam. The people are dead but not drowned,
killed by the freezing water. Some look like they could
be sleeping. One seaman throws up. Lowe sees a mother floating with her
arms frozen around her lifeless baby.
LOWE
(the worst moment of his life)
We waited too long.
CUT TO:
IN A HOVERING DOWNANGLE we see Jack and Rose floating in the black water. The stars reflect in the mill pond surface, and the two of them seem to be floating in interstellar space. They are absolutely still. Their hands are locked together. Rose is staring upwards at the canopy of stars wheeling above her. The music is transparent, floating... as the long sleep steals over Rose, and she feels peace.
CLOSE on Rose's face. Pale, like the faces of the dead. She seems to be floating in a void. Rose is in a semi-hallucinatory state. She knows she is dying. Her lips barely move as she sings a scrap of Jack's song:
ROSE
"Come Josephine in my flying machine..."
ROSE'S POV: The stars. Like you've never
seen them. The Milky Way a glorious band from horizon to
horizon.
A SHOOTING STAR flares... a line of light across the heavens.
TIGHT ON ROSE again. We see that her hair is dusted
with frost crystals. Her breathing is so
shallow, she is almost motionless. Her eyes track
down from the stars to the water.
Then the lookout flashes his torch toward her and the light flares across the water, silhouetting the bobbing corpses in between. It flicks past her motionless form and moves on. The boat is 50 feet away, and moving past her. The men look away.
Rose lifts her head to turn to Jack. We see that her hair has frozen to the wood under her.
ROSE
(barely audible)
Jack.
She touches his shoulder with her free
hand. He doesn't respond. Rose gently turns his face toward
her. It is rimed with frost.
He seems to be sleeping peacefully.
But he is not asleep.
Rose can only stare at his still face as the realization goes through her.
ROSE
Oh, Jack
All hope, will and spirit leave her. She
looks at the boat. It is further away now, the voices fainter.
Rose watches them go.
She closes her eyes. She is so weak, and there just seems to be no reason to even try.
And then... her eyes snap open.
She raises her head suddenly, crackling the ice as she rips her hair off the wood. She calls out, but her voice is so weak they don't hear her. The boat is invisible now, the torch light a star impossibly far away. She struggles to draw breath, calling again.
ROSE
I won't let go. I promise.
She releases him and he sinks into the
black water. He seems to fade out like a spirit returning to some
immaterial plane.
Rose rolls off the floating staircase and plunges into the icy water. She swims to Chief Officer Wilde's body and grabs the whistle. She starts to BLOW THE WHISTLE with all the strength in her body. Its sound slaps across the still water.
LOWE
(turning the tiller)
Row back! That way! Pull!
Rose keeps blowing as the boat comes to
her. She is still blowing when Lowe takes the whistle from her mouth as
they haul her into the boat. She slips into unconsciousness and they scramble
to cover
her with blankets...
DISSOLVE TO:
EXTREME CLOSEUP of Rose's ancient, wrinkled face. Present day.
OLD ROSE
Fifteen hundred people went into the sea when Titanic
sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating
nearby and only one came back. One. Six were saved
from the water, myself included. Six out of fifteen hundred.
As she speaks THE CAMERA TRACKS slowly
across the faces of Lizzy and the salvage crew on KELDYSH.
Lovett, Bodine, Buell, the others... the reality of what happened here
84 years before has hit them like never before.
With her story Rose has put them on Titanic in its final hours, and for
the first time, they do feel like graverobbers.
Lovett, for the first time, has even forgotten to ask about the diamond.
OLD ROSE
Afterward, the seven hundred people in the boats had
nothing to do but wait... wait to die, wait to live, wait
for an absolution which would never come.
DISSOLVE TO:
MATCHING MOVE as the camera tracks along the faces of the saved.
DISSOLVE TO: ANOTHER BOAT, and then ANOTHER, seeing
faces we know among the
survivors: Ismay in a trance, just staring and
trembling... Cal, sipping from a hip flask offered to him by
a black-faced stoker... Ruth hugging herself, rocking gently.
IN A SLOW-MOTION SILENCE we see Lowe light a green flare and wave it as everyone shouts and cheers. Rose doesn't react. She floats beyond all human emotion.
DISSOLVE TO:
IMAGES DISSOLVE into one another: a ships hull looming, with the letters CARPATHIA visible on the bow... Rose watching, rocked by the sea, her face blank... seamen helping survivors up the rope ladder to the Carpathia's gangway doors... two women crying and hugging each other inside the ship... ALL SILENT, ALL IN SLOW-MOTION. There is just music, so gentle and sad, part elegy, part hymn, art aching song of love lost forever.
THE IMAGES CONTINUE to music... Rose, outside
of time, outside of herself, coming into
Carpathia, barely able to stand... Rose being
draped by warm blankets and given hot tea... BRUCE ISMAY
climbing aboard. He has the face and eyes of a damned soul.
As Ismay walks along the hall, guided by a crewman toward the doctors cabin, he passes rows of seated and standing widows. He must run the gauntlet of their accusing gazes.
CUT TO:
It is the afternoon of the 15th. Cal is searching the faces of the widows lining the deck, looking for Rose. The deck of Carpathia is crammed with huddled people, and even the recovered lifeboats of Titanic. On a hatch cover sits an enormous pile of lifebelts.
He keeps walking toward the stern. Seeing Cal's tuxedo, a steward approaches him.
CARPATHIA STEWARD
You won't find any of your people back here, sir.
It's all steerage.
Cal ignores him and goes amongst this
wretched group, looking under shawls and blankets at one
bleak face after another.
Rose is sipping hot tea. Her eyes focus on him as he approaches her. He barely recognizes her. She looks like a refugee, her matted hair hanging in her eyes.
ROSE
Yes, I lived. How awkward for you.
CAL
Rose... your mother and I have been looking for you--
She holds up her hand, stopping him.
ROSE
Please don't. Don't talk. Just listen. We will make a
deal, since that is something you understand. From
this moment you do not exist to me, nor I for you.
You shall not see me again. And you will not attempt
to find me. In return I will keep my silence. Your
actions last night need never come to light, and you
will get to keep the honor you have so carefully
purchased.
She fixes him a glare as cold and hard as the ice that changed their lives.
ROSE
Is this in any way unclear?
CAL
(after a long beat)
What do I tell your mother?
ROSE
Tell her that her daughter died with the Titanic.
She
stands, turning to the rail. Dismissing him. We see Cal stricken with emotion.
CAL
You're precious to me, Rose.
ROSE
Jewels are precious. Goodbye, Mr. Hockley.
We see that in his way, the only way he knows, he does truly love her.
After a moment, he turns and walks away.
OLD ROSE
That was the last time I ever saw him. He married, of
course, and inherited his millions. The crash of 28 hit
his interests hard, and he put a pistol in his mouth that
year. His children fought over the scraps of his estate
like hyenas, or so I read.
Several hundred police keep the mob back. The dock is packed with friends and relatives, officials, ambulances, and the press--
Reporters and photographers swarm everywhere... 6 deep at the foot of the gangways, lining the tops of cars and trucks.. it is the 1912 equivalent to a media circus. They jostle to get close to the survivors, tugging on them as they pass and shouting over each other to ask them questions.
Rose is covered with a woolen shawl and walking with a group of steerage passengers. Immigration officers are asking them questions as they come off the gangway.
IMMIGRATION OFFICER
Name?
ROSE
Dawson. Rose Dawson.
The officer steers her toward a
holding area for processing. Rose walks forward with the dazed immigrants.
The BOOM! of photographer's magnesium flashes cause them to flinch, and
the glare is blinding. There is a sudden disturbance
near her as two men burst through the cordon, running to embrace
an older woman among the survivors, who cries out with joy. The reporters
converge on this emotional scene, and
flashes explode.
Rose uses this moment to slip away into the crowd. She pushes through the jostling people, moving with purpose, and none challenges her in the confusion.
OLD ROSE
Can you exchange one life for another? A caterpillar
turns into a butterfly. If a mindless insect can do it,
why couldn't I? Was it any more unimaginable than
the sinking of the Titanic?
TRACKING WITH HER as she walks away, further
and further until the flashes and the roar are far
behind her, and she is still walking, determined.
CUT TO:
Old Rose sits with the group in the imaging shack, lit by the blue glow of the screens. She holds the haircomb with the jade butterfly on the handle in her gnarled hands.
BODINE
We never found anything on Jack. There's no record
of him at all.
OLD ROSE
No, there wouldn't be, would there? And I've never
spoken of him until now, not to anyone.
(to Lizzy)
Not even your Grandfather. A woman's heart is a deep
ocean of secrets. But now you all know there was a
man named Jack Dawson, and that he saved me, in
every way that a person can be saved.
(closing her eyes)
I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now
only in my memory.
CUT TO:
The Mir submersibles make their last pass over the ship. We hear Yuri the pilot on the UQC:
YURI
Mir One returning to surface.
The sub rises off the deck of the wreck,
taking it's light with it, leaving the Titanic once again in it's
fine and private darkness.
CUT TO:
A desultory wrap up party for the expedition is in progress. There is music and some of the (co-ed) Russian crew are dancing. Bodine is getting drunk in the aggressive style of Baker Joughin.
Lovett stands at the rail, looking down into the black water. Lizzy comes to him, offering him a beer. She puts her hand on his arm.
LIZZY
I'm sorry.
BROCK
We were pissin' in the wind the whole time.
Lovett notices a figure move through the lights far down at the stern of
the ship.
LOVETT
Oh shit.
CUT TO:
Rose walks through the shadows of the deck machinery. Her nightgown blows in the wind. Her feet are bare. Her hands are clutched at her chest, almost as if she is praying.
ON BROCK AND LIZZY running down the stairs from the top deck, hauling ass.
ROSE reaches the stern rail. Her gnarled fingers wrap over the rail. Her ancient foot steps up on the gunwale. She pushes herself up leaning forward. Over her shoulder, we see the black water glinting far below.
BROCK AND LIZZY run up behind her.
LIZZY
Grandma, wait!! Don't--
ROSE TURNS her head, looking at them.
She turns further, and we see she has something in her
hand., something she was about to drop overboard.
It is the "Heart of the Ocean".
Lovett sees his holy grail in her hand and his eyes go wide. Rose keeps it over the railing where she can drop it anytime.
ROSE
Don't come any closer.
LOVETT
You had it the entire time!?
FLASH CUT TO: A SILENT IMAGE
OF YOUNG ROSE walking away from Pier 54. The
photographers' flashes go off like a battle
behind her. She has her hands in her pockets. She stops, feeling
something, and pulls out the necklace. She stares at it in amazement.
BACK ON KELDYSH, Rose smiles at Brock's incomprehension.
ROSE
The hardest part about being so poor, was being so
rich. But every time I thought of selling it, I thought
of Cal. And somehow I always got by without his help.
She holds it out over the water.
Bodine and a couple of the other guys come up behind Brock,
reacting to what is in Rose's hand.
BODINE
Holy shit.
LOVETT
Don't drop it Rose.
BODINE
(a fierce whisper)
Rush her.
LOVETT
(to Bodine)
It's hers, you schmuck.
(to her)
Look, Rose, I... I don't know what to say to a woman
who tries to jump off the Titanic when it's not sinking,
and jumps back on when it is... we're not dealing with
logic here, I know that... but please... think
bout this for a second.
ROSE
I have. I came all the way here so this could go back
where it belongs.
The massive diamond glitters. Brock edges closer and holds out his hand...
BROCK
Just let me hold it in my hand, Rose. Please. Just once.
He comes closer to her. it is reminiscent
of Jack slowly moving up to her at the stern of Titanic.
Surprisingly, she calmly places the massive stone in the palm of his hand, while still holding onto the necklace. Brock gazes at the object of his quest. An infinity of cold scalpels glint in its blue depths. It is mesmerizing. It fits in his hand just like he imagined.
BROCK
My god.
His grip tightens on the diamond.
He looks up, meeting her gaze. Her eyes are suddenly infinitely wise and deep.
ROSE
You look for treasure in the wrong place, Mr. Lovett.
Only life is priceless, and making each day count.
His fingers relax. He opens them slowly.
Gently she slips the diamond out of his hand. He feels it sliding
away.
Then, with an impish little grin, Rose tosses the necklace over the rail. Bodine gives a strangled cry and rushes to the rail in time to see it hit the water and disappear forever.
BODINE
Aww!! That really sucks, lady!
Brock Lovett goes through ten changes
before he settles on a reaction... HE LAUGHS. He laughs
until tears come to his eyes. Then he turns to Lizzy.
LOVETT
Would you like to dance?
Lizzy grins at him and nods. Rose smiles. She looks up at the stars.
CUT TO:
A GRACEFUL PAN across Rose's shelf of carefully arranged pictures:
Rose as a young actress in California, radiant...
a theatrically lit studio publicity shot...
Rose and her husband, with their two children...
Rose with her son at his college graduation... Rose with
her children and grandchildren at her 70th birthday. A collage of images
of a life lived well.
THE PAN STOPS on an image filling frame. Rose, circa 1920. She is at the beach, sitting on a horse in the surfline. The Santa Monica pier, with it's rollercoaster is behind her. She is grinning, full of life.
We PAN OFF the last picture to Rose herself, warm in her bunk. A profile shot. She is very still. She could be sleeping, or maybe something else.
CUT TO:
WE GO INSIDE, and the echoing sound of distant waltz music is heard. The rust fades away from the walls of the dark corridor and it is transformed... WE EMERGE onto the grand staircase, lit by glowing chandeliers. The music is vibrant now, and the room is populated by men in tie and tails, women in gowns. It is exquisitely beautiful.
IN POV we sweep down the staircase. The crowd
of beautiful gentlemen and ladies turn as we
descend toward them. At the bottom a man stands
with his back to us... he turns and it is Jack.
Smiling he holds his hand out toward us.
IN A SIDE ANGLE Rose goes into his arms, a girl of 17. The passengers, officers and crew of the RMS Titanic smile and applaud in the utter silence of the abyss.