MME MASSIS   For what?
Massis half-closes the door and there is a whispered conversation, Madame Massis looking round the door at Proust from time to time.

MME MASSIS   Go out? It’s midnight. What? Monsieur. My son is getting over a war wound. He needs an early night. Who is this man?
Now other members of the family have joined them.
A little boy in a nightshirt peeps at Proust.

PROUST   Charming, charming, charming. Don’t worry, madame. I have a car waiting downstairs.
Madame Massis glances over the banisters and sees Odilon waiting below.

EXT. 1 RUE CLOVIS. NIGHT.

Proust and Massis come out of the apartment building.

They get into the cab.

Odilon is in the driver’s seat.

PROUST   Now. Where do all your colleagues live?

MASSIS   My colleagues?

PROUST   Well, yes, of course.
The cab drives off.

EXT. 27 RUE CHATEAU D’EAU. GENTIL’S APARTMENT. NIGHT.

Proust and Odilon approach the cab with Ruyssen and Gentil.

Massis and Poulet are in the cab.

POULET   He says he spoke to you after the concert. You never mentioned it.

MASSIS   When he asked me to play for him at his apartment I thought he was trying it on.

POULET   I was asleep.
Ruyssen and Gentil get into the cab, followed by Proust.

RUYSSEN   What is all this?

PROUST   Our full complement. Off we go.

EXT./INT. PROUST’S APARTMENT. HALLWAY TO LIFT. NIGHT.

Odilon opens the door and stands in the doorway, holding the tureen. Proust enters, followed by the musicians.

PROUST   You are the leading exponents of the modern composers?

MASSIS   Yes.

GENTIL   Are we?

MASSIS   Gaston … Monsieur Poulet is a friend of Debussy.
Poulet muttering to Ruyssen.

MASSIS   He says he’s a novelist.

RUYSSEN   I don’t care if he’s Racine. He’s no business knocking on doors in the middle of the night. (Pause.) What’s in there?
Looking at the tureen.

POULET   Mashed potatoes.
Ruyssen rolls his eyes at the insanity of it all.
Proust and Massis are standing by the lift. The other musicians get into the lift.

PROUST   I’m particularly interested in César Franck. A true artist, he achieved recognition only on the brink of the grave. His last and to my mind his greatest work was performed at the Salle Pleyel twenty-five years ago, the only public triumph he ever had …
Massis and Proust follow the other musicians into the lift.

PROUST   I must apologise for the lift. It dates from the period before lifts were invented.
Proust closes the door behind them.

INT. PROUST’S APARTMENT. SERVICE STAIRS. NIGHT.

A majestic Odilon carries the tureen up the stairs.

INT. PROUST’S APARTMENT. HALL. NIGHT.

Céleste relieves the players of their coats.

CÉLESTE   Coat. Follow me. And don’t touch anything.
Massis pulls a face behind her back, which Céleste still manages to catch.
The players file through the apartment into the bedroom.

INT. PROUST’S BEDROOM. NIGHT.