- An exploration of the intimacy and vitality of a twelve-hour relationship between a man and a woman whose chance encounter on a street becomes the catalyst for an intensely personal adventure of passion, synchronicities and fears.
- The approximate twelve hours in the lives of Montreal-based artist Manny Stephanopoulos and Toronto-based photographer Alex Smith following their initial meeting is presented. That meeting takes place on the sidewalk just down the street from Manny's apartment as Alex asks him for directions to her hotel, she visiting Montreal for the first time and thus unfamiliar with the city. Based on that chance encounter, Manny asks Alex up to his apartment for a drink, she cautiously accepting. Thus initiates the process of them possibly getting to know each other, in all that entails. At each stage along the process, there may be high times, and low times, with a question being whether the high times are high enough to overcome or sustain the low times, especially in the early stages when they hardly know each other. Through that process, Manny is more open in his attraction to her, with she having the power to leave and/or return anytime she wants as she knows where he lives, he not knowing the same about her beyond the general locale of the hotel where she is staying. However, this phase of their joint lives has an imminent end point as Alex is scheduled to head back to Toronto on the train first thing the following morning, with subsequent questions being whether there is a future for them after they part company, and if so what form that may take.—Huggo
- Alexis and Manny are a "12-hour" couple whose turbulent love affair is told over the course of a half-day. Their romance begins with a chance meeting on the street, then is fast-forwarded to Manny's apartment where they spend an unforgettable one-night stand together that feels like a lifetime. They say time stops when you meet the love of your life. Unfortunately, Alexis and Manny have only 11 hours and 54 minutes left to go.—Christos Sourligas
- Outside his apartment, Manny meets Alexis. She's lost, her face buried in a map, her camera dangling from her neck. She asks for directions, he offers assistance. In 12 hours time - in the 11 acts of every couple's story - their fate will be decided.
1) Flirtation. From the start, it's as if they know each other. He's 32, single, a charmer who teaches sculpture and painting - a self-assured guy's guy with a sensitive streak. She's a photo journalist from Toronto, visiting Montreal for the very first time. He turns directions into a dinner invitation, and then talks her into coming up for a drink. She promises him, before taking a step inside, that she's not going to sleep with him.
2) Awkwardness. The couple stands in the kitchen, drinking white wine, giggling uncomfortably, and asking one another the usual questions - what countries they've been to, what hostels have stayed at? Alex starts to laugh uncontrollably, and then suddenly, they kiss. Seconds later, they're making love, standing up against the kitchen doorway. Just as suddenly, it's over and they're lying on the floor. Although Manny is silent, Alex is adamant that she heard him speak. He repeats the words that were in his head: "Oh my God, I love you." "Oh my God," she answers. "That's exactly what I heard you say!"
3) Denial. When she emerges from the washroom, he's sitting stiffly on the couch. Alex walks politely and carefully around Manny's apartment, admiring the artwork, which turns out to be his own. She feels she should leave, and starts to gather her things, but he convinces her to stay, and pulls out two drawing pads and markers. They write down the answers to each other's questions: favorite color, favorite cuisines, favorite season, favorite day of the week. Their answers are all identical. Alex and Manny like the same ice cream, love the same favorite play, have the same favorite place in the entire world - the Louvre in Paris! She starts to panic, backs away, and flees the apartment. He yells after her. "I'll be here!"
4) Romance. It's dark when Alex returns, and Manny answers the door holding a bottle of chilled champagne. The apartment is filled with lit candles. She asks if that was their first fight. "What happens at the end?" she wants to know. Manny admits he doesn't know, and they make a deal. No falling in love.
Alex told Manny it was her birthday two days ago, and he's put a gift in every room. She finds a French baguette in the dining room, in honor of Paris. In the freezer, Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, their favorite ice cream. A book of their favorite play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," in the living room. They read from the book together, and Alex tilts her head back and cries out. "Who is this man, and where did he come from?"
She finds the last gift is in his bedroom. It's a blank canvas resting on top of the bed.
5) Courtship. The couple lounges in bed together. She's wearing his pajama top, singing show tunes, talking about the photo essay she's working on. It's called, "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone." Chivalry is dead, she announces - guys don't even open car doors anymore. They sing more songs. Flashdance. Godfather. Eye of the Tiger. Star Wars and Superman - Manny can never tell the difference between those two musical scores! Then, hesitantly, she asks him if he's with anyone. He isn't. He asks the same. She's alone, too. They'll just play it by ear, he says - you know, one day at a time. That's not good enough, she says. He reminds her of their deal: no falling in love.
6) Jealousy. In the bathtub together, smoking a joint, Manny tells her that his former girlfriend used to nag him about overusing the word "love," so he started to say "elephant shoes" instead, which looks like "I love you" when said silently. Alex is visibly upset. "Were you in love?" she wants to know. They were, he says, but no matter how much you love someone, and how perfect it is, one morning you wake up and realize you're in a loveless relationship. The desire's gone, and you're looking for your next hit of romance. It's human nature. A committed relationship is as much fun as a prison sentence. Choosing the cowboy instead of the sensitive guy is a true recipe for disappointment. She talks about her ex, and how she ran away when it got too serious.
Manny climbs out of the tub, and suddenly falls to the floor, his body jerking and twitching. She panics, phones 911, screams at him to wake up.
7) Trust. When Manny comes to, he tells Alex he's epileptic. She had asked him earlier about the medical bracelet on his wrist, and he'd said he was allergic to nuts. Manny lied. Alex is furious. How much of what he's told her is true?! Why should she trust him? He grabs her and holds her. Then, she admits the truth: she doesn't want to think about him with anyone else. Manny paints her portrait.
8) Commitment. It's early morning, and the couple's sitting on the stairs outside Manny's building, eating candy, talking about their parents, their siblings, marriage, kids. She likes the left side of the bed, she says, and they're going to have to redecorate. He smiles and says he can live with that. He puts his arms around her while they slow dance together at the bottom of the stairs.
9) Routine. Alex and Manny are back in bed, and he's startled awake when she rips a pore cleansing strip off his nose. Manny tells her he could wake up to that face every morning. She commands breakfast, kicking him out of bed because he has morning breath, and goes to take a shower, singing. She arrives at the table with a towel wrapped around her head. He asks her if she'd like coffee or tea, squeezes fresh orange juice, and sets the table. They eat breakfast like an old married couple.
10) Crossroads. The couple chats about where they'll be 25 years from now. She'll be a photographer of the stars, he says, a mother of two, still pining for him and checking through the obits to see if he's passed away. She says he'll meet and marry a young beautician who gives great manicures and great blow jobs. And suddenly, she's quiet. "It's not like a real relationship wouldn't have fizzled out anyway," he says. "They say long distance never works..." Alex says she has to go, to catch her train, but he stops her again, says he wants her in his life, that they can do this, together. She shakes her head. He's not the one, though she so wanted him to be. Desperate, he rips a page from his Louvre art book and hands it to her at the door. "Maybe, we could meet at the Louvre some day," he begs.
11) Acceptance. She leaves the apartment, sobbing, walking quickly down the stairs outside his building, running past the spot where they first met. He opens the door to the balcony, and yells "ELEPHANT SHOES!!!" She keeps going, and doesn't look back.
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