The Royal Tenenbaums

Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue

in the winter of his 35th year.

Over the next decade, he and his wife had three children,

and then they separated.

Are you getting divorced?

At the moment, no.

But, uh, it doesn't look good.

Do you still love us?

Of course I do.

Do you still love Mom?

Yes, very much, but your mother's asked me to leave,

and I must respect her position on the matter.

Is it our fault?

No, no. Obviously, we made certain sacrifices

as a result of having children,

but, uh, no. Lord, no.

Then why'd she ask you to leave?

I don't really know anymore.

Hmm. Maybe, uh, I wasn't as true to her as I could have been.

- Well, she says... - Let's just drop it, shall we, Chassie?

They were never legally divorced.

Thank you, Pagoda.

Etheline Tenenbaum kept the house and raised the children,

and their education was her highest priority.

Yes, I'll hold, please.

Thank you.

I need $187.

Write yourself a check.

She wrote a book on the subject.

- -

Uh, the gentleman in the blue cardigan, please.

Uh, thank you. I have a two-part question.

Go ahead.

Chas Tenenbaum had, since elementary school,

taken most of his meals in his room,

standing up at his desk with a cup of coffee to save time.

In the sixth grade, he went into business breeding dalmatian mice,

which he sold to a pet shop in Little Tokyo.

He started buying real estate

- in his early teens... -

...and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding

of international finance.

He negotiated the purchase of his father's summer house...

on Eagle's Island.

Hold it, Chassie.

Hold it right there.

What are you doing? You're on my team!

There are no teams!

- -

- -

The BB was still lodged between two knuckles in Chas' left hand.

Margot Tenenbaum was adopted at age two.

Her father had always noted this when introducing her.

This is my adopted daughter, Margot Tenenbaum.

She was a playwright

and won a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade.

She and her brother, Richie, ran away from home one winter,

and camped out in the African wing of the public archives.

- Hi, Eli. - You said I could run away, too.

No, I didn't.

And don't tell anyone you saw us.

They shared a sleeping bag

- and survived on crackers and root beer. -

Four years later, Margot disappeared alone

for two weeks and came back with half a finger missing.

Richie Tenenbaum had been a champion tennis player

since the third grade.

Do you copy, Anonymous?

He turned pro at 17

and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row.

He kept a studio in a corner of the ballroom,

but had failed to develop as a painter.

Up.

Up.

Right. Perfect.

Pagoda?

On weekends, Royal took him on outings around the city.

Come on! Ándale!

- -

Put it out there!

These invitations were never extended to anyone else.

Richie's best friend, Eli Cash, lived with his aunt

in the building across the street.

He was a regular fixture at family gatherings,

holidays, mornings before school, and most afternoons.

The three Tenenbaum children performed Margot's first play

- on the night of her 11th birthday. -

They had agreed to invite their father to the party.

Well, what'd you think, Dad?

Hmm, didn't seem believable to me.

Why are you wearing pajamas? Do you live here?

- He has permission to sleep over. - Hmm.

Well, did you at least think the characters were well-developed?

What characters? There's just a bunch of little kids, uh,

dressed up in animal costumes.

Good night, everyone.

Oh, sweetie,

don't be mad at me.

Uh, that's just one man's opinion.

He had not been invited to any of their parties since.

In fact, virtually all memory

of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums

had been erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster.

Go, Mordecai.

- -

I've been instructed to refuse any further charges

on your room account,

and to direct you in writing to please vacate the premises

by the end of the month.

Well, what about Sing-Sang?

I owe her $100.

Royal had lived in the Lindbergh Palace Hotel

for 22 years.

Can you pay her in cash?

Mmm-mmm.

He was a prominent litigator until the mid-'80s,

when he was disbarred and briefly imprisoned.

No one in his family had spoken to him in three years.

- -

Read it back to me so far, Pietro.

"Dear Eli, I'm in the middle of the ocean."

"I haven't left my room in four days."

"I've never been more lonely in my life, and I think I'm in love with Margot."

New paragraph.

Richie had retired from professional tennis at 26.

His last match had been widely discussed in the media.

"Your friend, Richie." End of letter.

For the past year, he had been traveling alone

on an ocean liner called The Cote d'Ivoire,

and had seen both poles, five oceans, the Amazon,

and the Nile.

"The crickets and the rust beetles

scuttled among the nettles and the sage thicket."

"'Vámonos, amigos , ' he whispered,

and threw the busted-leather flint craw over the loose weave of the saddlecock."

"And they rode on in the friscalating dusk light."

Eli was an assistant professor of English Literature at Brooks College.

The recent publication of his second novel...

- -

...had earned him a sudden, unexpected literary celebrity.

Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn.

What this book presupposes is...

maybe he didn't?

Let me ask you something.

Why would a review make the point of saying someone's not a genius?

You think I'm especially not a genius?

I know what you...

You didn't even have to think about it, did you?

- Well... -

...I just don't use that word lightly.

I have to go, Eli.

Margot?

Uh-huh.

May I come in, please?

How are you, my darling?

Margot was married to the writer

and neurologist, Raleigh St. Clair.

- -

I'm fine, thank you.

You need to eat something.

May I make you dinner?

No, thank you.