ELENA No, Salvatore...there is no future. There’s only the past. Even meeting last night was nothing but a dream, a beautiful dream. (Smiling) We never did it when we were kids, remember? (Down in the cafe, SALVATORE nods his head slowly, desperately.) Now that it’s happened, I don’t think there could have been a better ending. (It’s farewell. SALVATORE glances one last time at that window.) SALVATORE I’ll never agree with you. Never, Elena.
122 CINEMA PARADISO. EXT. DAY
234
The square, unusually empty. There is no one, and no cars and motorcycles are parked in the middle. The stores are shut. And there is an unreal silence. The houses on the two streets on either side of the theatre are covered by enormous pieces of gray canvas. Only now does the camera discover in the distance, a crowd of curious onlookers waiting in front of the movie house, kept at a safe distance by firemen and policemen. Old SPACCAFICO is in the crowd. SALVATORE is also there. Be gazes at the front of the old movie theatre...
123 CINEMA PARADISO. INT. DAY The inside of the theatre, completely empty...All of a sudden, a blinding flash and...
124 SQUARE AND CINEMA PARADISO. EXT. DAY
...a deafening roar rends the air, accompanied by a surge of amazement in the crowd. And the Cinema Paradiso suddenly collapses, folds inward and disappears for ever in a gigantic cloud of white smoke that rises into the air, carried by the wind towards the crowd...