Daily Dialogue — November 9, 2014

Miles Raymond: What about you?
Maya: What about me?
Miles Raymond: I don’t know. Why are you into wine?
Maya: Oh I… I think I… I originally got in to wine through my ex-husband.
Miles Raymond: Ah.
Maya: You know, he had this big, sort of show-off cellar, you know.
Miles Raymond: Right.
Maya: But then I discovered that I had a really sharp palate.
Miles Raymond: Uh-huh.
Maya: And the more I drank, the more I liked what it made me think about.
Miles Raymond: Like what?
Maya: Like what a fraud he was.

Miles laughs softly.

Maya: No, I- I like to think about the life of wine.
Miles Raymond: Yeah.
Maya: How it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks, like your ’61. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.
Miles Raymond: Hmm.
Maya: And it tastes so fucking good.

— Sideways (2004), screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, novel by Rex Pickett

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Seduction.

Trivia: This is the first film to win best screenplay from all five “major” critic groups (National Board Of Review, New York, Los Angeles, Brodcast and National Society Critics), the Golden Globes, the WGA and, ultimately, the Academy Awards.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Maya ends her monologue by placing her hand atop Miles. The subtext is pretty obvious: She’s ready to go. What does Miles do? He excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Seduction denied.